774 REDSHANK 



the eastward, what seems to be a recognizably distinct form, L. 

 exilipes becomes more frequent if not wholly replacing it. Yet both 

 these forms occur in North America, as well as another, the largest 

 of all, L. hcyrnemanni, which has two or three times visited England.^ 

 A remarkable peculiarity in the Redpolls is the fact ascertained by 

 Wolley in Lapland that the size and especially the length of the 

 bill varies according to the food of the birds, that organ growing 

 inordinately in summer when they are almost Avholly insectivorous, 

 and being ground short in winter by the hard seeds that then form 

 their only fare. (See also Linnet.) 



REDSHANK, the usual name of a bird — the Scolopax calidris of 

 Linnaeus and Totanus calidris of modern authors — so called in 

 English from the colour of the bare part of its legs, which, being 

 also long, are conspicuous as its flies over its marshy haunts or runs 

 nimbly beside the waters it affects. In suitable localities it is 

 abundant throughout the greater part of Europe and Asia, irom 

 Iceland to China, mostly retiring to the southward for the winter, 

 though a considerable number remain during that season along the 

 coasts and estuaries of some of the more northern countries. 

 Before the great changes effected by drainage in England it was a 

 common species in many districts, but at the present day there are 

 very few to which it can resort for the purpose of reproduction. 

 In such of them as remain, its lively actions, both on the ground 

 and in the air, as well as its loud notes, render the Redshank, during 

 the breeding-season, one of the most observable inhabitants of what 

 without its presence would often be a desolate spot, and invest it 

 with a charm for the lover of wild nature. At other times the 

 cries of this bird may be thought too shrill, but in spring the love- 

 notes of the male form what may fairly be called a song, the 

 constantly repeated refrain of which — leero, leero, hero (for so it may 

 be syllabled) — rings musically around, as with many gesticulations 

 he hovel's in attendance on the flight of his mate ; or, with a slight 

 change to a different key, engages with a rival; or again, half 

 angrily and half piteously complains of a human intruder on his 

 chosen ground. The body of the Redshank is almost as big as a 

 Snipe's, but its longer -neck, wings and legs make it appear a much 



^ Full details of the Redpolls most likely to be met with by European 

 naturalists will be found in Dresser's Birds of Europe (iv. pp. 37-57) and 

 Yarrell's British Birds (ed. 4, ii. pp. 133-152) ; and, resting upon considerable 

 experience, may be recommended as trustworthy. Dr. Sharpe {Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 xii. pp. 245-247) recognizes two "species" of Redpoll — Acanthis linaria, with 

 3 "subspecies" Iiolboslli, rostrata and rufesccns, and A. exilipes viifh a "sub- 

 species " hornemanni ; but the reasons for taking this view of a confessedly very 

 difficult subject are not clearly stated, and it would seem as if the specimens 

 enumerated by him were chiefly sorted according to the length of their wing, 

 which he is careful to give. 



