TOTANOS CANESCBNS 335 



flies swiftly and is very fond of wading in water. Its alarm note is 



rather a loud whistle. Its food consists chiefly of worms, insects 

 and small molluscs. 



TOTANUS CANESCENS (Gmelin). 

 GREENSHANK. 



Scolopax canescens, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 668 (1788). 



Totanus canescens, Finsch. tend Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afr. p. l-io (1870). 



Totanus glottis, Mallicrbc, Fauna Oni. do I'Alg. p. 32 (1855) ; Kociiig, 



J. f. 0. 1888, p. 279 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 92. 

 Glottis canescens, Lochc, Expl. Sci. Alij. Ois. ii, p. 316 (1867). 

 Glottis nebularius, SJiarpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv, p. 481. 



Description. — Adult female, spring, from North Tunisia. 



Head and neck greyish-white, striped with dark browu ; back, scapulars 

 and elongate secondaries brownisli-black, fringed with white ; lower back 

 and rump pure white ; quills dull black, the outermost primary with a white 

 shaft ; upper wing-coverts dark brown ; upper tail-coverts white, barred 

 with blackisli-brown, median rectrices grey, barred with blackish-brown, the 

 rest white, irregularly barred with blackish-brown ; under parts white, the 

 throat and neck streaked, and the breast and flanks slightly spotted with 

 blackish. 



Iris brown ; bill, which curves upwards at the tip, blackish ; feet 

 greenish-brown . 



Total length 14-50 inches, wing 7-30, culmen 2-30, tarsus 2-30. 



Adult male resembles the female. 



In winter the upper plumage is greyer and the under parts entirely 

 white. 



The Greenshank, although not very numerous, is to be found in 

 the Regency in certain numbers during the winter and on passage, 

 and may frequently be observed on the margins of pools and in 

 marshy localities by the sides of the Lake of Tunis and in the vicinity 

 of Goletta. 



In Algeria and Marocco it also occurs as a winter visitor. The 

 summer range of the species apparently extends throughout the 

 northern portion of the Palfearctic Region, while in winter the bird 

 migrates southwards as far as South Africa and Australia. It has 

 also been met with accidentally in America. 



