6i6 



COMMON REDSHANK. 



and it is very local in Siberia, though more widely distributed during 

 the summer over the elevated table-lands from Persia to Mongolia ; 

 on passage it occurs in Japan, China, the Philippines, Borneo and 

 Java, and it is plentiful in the Indian region during the cold season. 



The Redshank frequently breeds in small communities, and in 

 marsh-land or pastures the nest is usually in the centre of a tuft of 

 rushes or of long grass, the entwined blades of which conceal the 

 contents from view ; but in many places the nest is as exposed as 

 that of a Lapwing or of a Golden Plover. The 4 eggs are of a 

 yellowish stone-colour blotched with purplish-brown, and measure 

 175 by 1-2 in. In the south they are often laid during the 

 first week in April, but they may be found fresh until the middle of 

 May, or later in the north ; incubation lasting twenty-two days 

 (W. Evans). When the nest is approached the bird is very noisy 

 and practises many artifices to allure the intruder from the neigh- 

 bourhood ; while at other times it causes annoyance to sportsmen 

 by flying round and alarming everything by its shrill note, which 

 has obtained for it the local name of took in East Anglia and tolk 

 m Scandinavia. In spring the male may often be seen uttering a 

 peculiar love-song while running along the top of a gate or fence, 

 pirouetting and bowing to his partner like an amorous pigeon. 

 Occasionally the bird perches on trees ; it dives when wounded ; 

 and it has been seen swimming to shallow water on the other side 

 of a creek rather than take wing. Its flight is quick though 

 somewhat wavering, the white band on the extended wing being very 

 conspicuous. The food consists of aquatic insects, worms, crusta- 

 ceans, and small molluscs. During seven or eight months of the 

 year this species frequents the margins of salt or brackish waters. 



The adult male in summer has the upper parts bufiish-brown, 

 profusely streaked and barred with umber; secondaries nearly 

 white; rump white with a few dusky flecks; tail-feathers white, 

 thickly barred with blackish, and with a tinge of pale brown on the 

 central pairs ; under-parts white, streaked on the neck, breast and 

 belly and barred on the flanks and axillaries with ash-brown ; bill 

 black anteriorly, basal half red ; legs and feet bright orange-red. 

 Length 11 in. (bill i-8), wing 6-25, tarsus 1-9 in. The female is 

 rather larger and more rufous on the mantle. In winter the bird 

 has the upper parts ash-colour, the rump white, and the under-parts 

 nearly so, with a few ashy streaks and spots on the neck and breast ; 

 axillaries pure white. In the young the legs are yellow, the feathers 

 of the mantle are edged with rufous-brown, and the belly is un- 

 spotted. 



