THE GREENSHANK 



TRINOA NEBU LABIA 



Deoch-bhthdh (Gaelic) ; Chevalier oris (French) ; Hellfarbiger 

 Wasserlaufer (German) ; Oolitbolsciioi (Russian). 



Should ever a poetical name be sought after for the 

 Greenshank, one that would suit it well is The Bird with 

 the Restless Spirit. I think that even the Curlew himself 

 must yield second place to him in watchfulness. 



The Greenshank is met with over the majority of Great 

 Britain as a passing migrant only, and there are very few 

 nesting haunts of the species south of Inverness. A well- 

 known nesting site of the birds, where I have recently been 

 studying them, is sadly overrun by collectors who let 

 no opportunity pass of making themselves possessors of 

 so great a prize as a clutch of Greenshank's eggs, and I 

 fear that the birds are decreasing at this, their farthest 

 south stronghold. 



During the second week in May, 1914, the head stalker 

 of the forest and I spent a good deal of time in hunting 

 over suitable Greenshank ground, but saw no signs of a 

 nest. The stalker knew the habits of the Greenshank 

 well, and he told me that he had invariably before found 

 nests even when he was not searching for them. I had 

 my only sight of the birds during the second day's search. 

 In i:)assing a lochan a pair of Greenshank rose from where 

 they had probably been feeding and made their way 

 quickly over the moor in silence. I had previously heard, 

 while searching for the nest, what I imagined was the cry 

 of one of the birds overhead, but did not succeed in catch- 

 ing a glimpse of him. The nesting-ground was not far 



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