6o2 COMMON REDSHANK. 



it through Abyssinia to Natal. In Asia it barely ranges north 

 of lat. 55° in Siberia, and during the summer it chiefly inhabits the 

 elevated table-lands from Persia to iMongolia ; on passage it occurs 

 in Japan, China, the Philippines, Borneo and Java, and it is plenti- 

 ful throughout the Indian region during the cold season. 



The Redshank frequently breeds in small communities, the nest 

 being in the centre of a tuft of rushes or of long grass, the entwined 

 blades of which conceal from view the 4 eggs within ; these are of 

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

 about i"75 by i"2 in. In the south they are often laid during the first 

 week in April, but may be found fresh until the middle of May — or 

 even later in the north ; incubation lasting about sixteen days. 

 When the nest is approached the bird is very noisy and practises 

 many artifices to allure the intruder from the neighbourhood ; while 

 at other times it causes much annoyance to sportsmen by flying 

 round and frightening everything by its shrill note, which has ob- 

 tained for it the local name of took in East Anglia and folk in Scan- 

 dinavia. In spring the male has a peculiar love-song, and Stevenson 

 has seen him uttering it while running along the top bar of a gate, 

 pirouetting and bowing like an amorous pigeon ; occasionally too 

 the bird perches on trees. It dives when wounded, and has been 

 seen to swim to shallow water on the other side of a creek rather 

 than rise and fly across. Its flight is. quick though somewhat waver- 

 ing, the white band on the extended wing being very conspicuous. 

 The food consists of aquatic insects, annelids, worms, crustaceans, 

 and small molluscs. During seven or eight months of the year this 

 species frequents the margins of sale or brackish waters. 



The adult in summer has the upper parts pale brown, profusely 

 streaked and barred with umber ; secondaries nearly white ; rump 

 white with a few dusky flecks; tail-feathers white, barred with blackish, 

 and with a tinge of pale brown on the central pairs ; under parts 

 white, streaked on the neck and breast and barred on the flanks and 

 axillaries with umber ; legs and feet bright orange-red. Length 

 II in., wing 6'2 in. ; the female being rather larger than the male. 

 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 lemon-yellow. 



