SCOLOPACID^. 



605 



THE GREENSHANK. 



ToTANUs CANESCENS (J. F. Gmelin). 



The Greenshank occurs annually though in small numbers on 

 the shores and many of the inland waters of Great Britain, during 

 the spring and autumn migrations, but even in the south it is seldom 

 met with in December or January. In Ireland, however, it remains 

 the entire winter, especially in cos. Mayo and Cork, and its absence 

 is very brief, inasmuch as some birds make their appearance 

 early in July while the majority have arrived by the end of that 

 month (R. Warren) ; nevertheless it has not been known to breed 

 in that island. In Scotland it was discovered nesting by Macgillivray 

 in the Outer Hebrides, where, according to Messrs. Harvie-Brown 

 and Buckley, only a few pairs are now to be found — the same holding 

 true of Skye and some of the inner islands ; but on the mainland, 

 as I am told by the former gentleman, its breeding area is increas- 

 ing and extends over portions of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Inver- 

 ness, Argyle, and the north of Perthshire, while Mr. Service thinks 

 that a small number inhabit the Galloway hills. Saxby's statements 

 respecting the finding of its eggs in Shetland remain uncorroborated 

 by later observers, and information is scanty as regards the Orkneys. 



This species is a regular summer-visitor to the fells and morasses 



