THE GREENSHANK 271 
of mud close to an embankment. Calculating as nearly as I could 
how many paces off it was, I cautiously crept along the other side 
of the embankment ; and when I had reached what I supposed 
was the right spot, took off my hat and peeped over. Within a few 
yards of me was an unmistakable Redshank, pegging with his 
long beak into the mud, and aiding every blow with an impetus of 
his whole body. In my own mind I compared his movements 
with those of a Nuthatch, with which I was quite familiar, and, the 
surface of the mud being frozen hard, I imagined that the laborious 
effort on the part of the bird was necessitated by the hardness of 
the ground. Perhaps this may have been the case; but, whether 
or not, it is clear enough that the bird does, when occasion requires 
it, lend the weight of his body to the effort of his beak in searching 
for food. I should add that I did not know, at the time, that any 
similar occurrence had been recorded. 
The food of the Redshank consists of worms, marine insects, 
and any other animal matter which abounds on the seashore. In 
small communities it builds its nest of a few blades of grass in 
the marshes, in a tuft of rushes or long grass, never among the shingle 
where that of the Ringed Plover is placed, but often under a shrub 
(popularly known on the coast of Norfolk by the name of ‘ Rose- 
mary’), the Sueda fruticosa, Shrubby Sea Blite, of botanists. It 
lays four eggs, which are considered delicate eating. 
’ 
THE GREENSHANK 
TOTANUS CANESCENS 
Bill strong, compressed at the base, slightly curved upwards. Wintey—fore- 
head, all the lower parts, and lower back, white ; head, cheeks, neck and 
sides of the breast, streaked with ash-brown and white; rest 
of the upper feathers mottled with dusky and yellowish white; tail 
white, middle feathers barred with brown, outer white with a narrow 
dusky streak on the outer web; bill ash-brown; legs yellowish green, 
long and slender. Summer—feathers of the back edged with white, 
breast and adjacent parts white, with oval black spots; middle tail- 
feathers ash, barred with brown. Length fourteen inches. Eggs olive- 
brown, spotted all over with dusky. 
AN unusual colour and disproportionate length of leg are characters 
which sufficiently distinguish the Greenshank and account for its name. 
It is far less common than the Redshank, but seems to resemble 
it in many of its habits. It is sociably disposed towards birds of 
its own kind and allied species, but utterly averse to any familiarity 
with man, insomuch that fowlers rarely come within shet of it. It 
frequents low muddy or sandy shores and brackish pools, the oozy 
banks of lakes, ponds, and rivers, preferring such open situations 
as allow it a clear view of threatening danger while there is plenty 
of time to decamp. In the course of feeding it wades unconcernedly 
