DUSKY REDSHANK. 147 



his first summer in Lapland be was unsuccessful in finding the nest ; but 

 his interest was continually excited by hearing the note, occasionally 

 seeing the bird, and listening to the information respecting it supplied to 

 him by the Finns^ who disliked it on account of its habit of Hying about in 

 the air uttering its loud note, and alarming any deer they might be 

 stalking. Wolley found that it arrived at its breeding-grounds as soon 

 as the snow had melted, and began to prepare for its nesting-duties without 

 any delay. It frequented the open spaces in the forest, often far from 

 water, esj)ecially choosing spots Avhere the timber had been burnt and 

 where the vegetation was scanty. The birds were scattered up and down 

 so locally, that he only saw two or three pairs in a day^s walk. 



The nests were often placed on rising ground, frequently near the tops 

 of the hills, and at a long distance from any marshy ground, in open places 

 surrounded with fir trees ; they were slight depressions in the ground, 

 which was covered with short heath and other small plants growing amongst 

 reindeer moss, and were only lined with a few dead spines of the Scotch 

 fir. The bird often sat so closely as to almost tempt him to try and catch 

 it ; and its white rump was very conspicuous as it sat brooding on its eggs, 

 with its neck drawn in. When disturbed it either rose at once or ran a 

 little distance before doing so, and then flew round, now and then uttering 

 its note. Sometimes he saw it perch on the top of a neighbouring tree. 

 The eggs were laid at the end of May. When the young are hatched, 

 Wolley found that the old bird displayed its anxiety much more, hovering 

 over him, or standing very near, nodding its head and opening and closing 

 its bill. It is very wary during the breeding-season, and he never suc- 

 ceeded in watching it to its nest ; all those he found were stumbled u^Jon by 

 accident. 



The eggs of the Dusky Redshank are four in number, and are laid late 

 in May or during the first half of June, sometimes later, according to 

 season; they are very handsome, and vary in ground-colour from pale 

 green to pale brown, heavily blotched and spotted with rich sepia-brown, 

 and with underlying markings of violet-grey and brownish grey. On many 

 eggs a few very dark brown hair-like lines and scratches occur on the large 

 end. Some eggs are so richly marked as to hide almost all the large end ; 

 others are more evenly spotted over the entire surface. The markings are 

 generally bold and very clearly defined. The eggs are pyriform in shape, 

 and vary in length from 1*95 to 1'8 inch, and in breadth from 1-35 to 1-25 

 inch. They cannot readily be confused with those of any other British 

 bird. Eggs of the Great Snipe perhaps resemble them most closely, but 

 they are never so green, and are, on an average, slightly smaller. Only 

 one brood appears to be reared in the year, and Wolley says that as soon 

 as the young are hatched they are taken to the marshes by their parents. 



The adult male Dusky Redshank in full breeding-plumage is a very 



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