I02 



PLOVER GROUP 



LtbSEK YELLOWSHANK. 



tail-coverts, which are barred with black, the under-parts are white. 



In winter grey replaces the 

 black of the upper-parts, 

 which are then more marked 

 with white than in the red- 

 shank, while the under-parts 

 are white. Young birds 

 are brown and more dis- 

 tinctly spotted than the 

 adults in winter. 



In general habits the 

 spotted redshank is stated 

 to be ver)' similar to the 

 ordinary species, with which 

 it frequentl)' associates, and 

 for which it may be easily 

 mistaken, unless it reveals 

 itself by its peculiar and 

 characteristic cry, so utterly 

 unlike that of all other British waders. A full green is the general 

 ground-colour of the eggs, upon which are spots and blotches of 

 chocolate, with the usual 

 deep-seated purple mark- 

 ings. 



Before proceeding to 

 the next undoubted British 

 representative of the group 

 a very brief reference must 

 be made to the marsh sand- 

 piper, or lesser greenshank 

 {Tot amis siagnatilis), a 

 south European and Asiatic 

 species, of which a single ex- 

 ample is stated to have been 

 shot on Tring Reservoirs in 

 I ^Z"/ . It is a comparatively 

 small green-legged species, 

 of the approximate size of 

 the green sandpiper, from 



which it may be distinguished b\' the lower part of the back being 

 white and the lower segment of the leg longer than the beak. 



HC ROWLAND 



GREATER YELLOWSIIANK. 



