774 REDSHANK 
the eastward, what seems to be a recognizably distinct form, L. 
exilipes becomes more frequent if not wholly replacing it. Yet both 
these forms occur in North America, as well as another, the largest 
of all, L. hornemanni, which has two or three times visited England.! 
A remarkable peculiarity in the Redpolls is the fact ascertained by 
Wolley in Lapland that the size and especially the length of the 
bill varies according to the food of the birds, that organ growing 
inordinately in summer when they are almost wholly insectivorous, 
and being ground short in winter by the hard seeds that then form 
their only fare. (See also LINNET.) 
REDSHANK, the usual name of a bird—the Scolopax calidris of 
Linneus and Yotanus calidris of modern authors—so called in 
English from the colour of the bare part of its legs, which, being 
also long, are conspicuous as its flies over its marshy haunts or runs 
nimbly beside the waters it affects. In suitable localities it is 
abundant throughout the greater part of Europe and Asia, from 
Iceland to China, mostly retiring to the southward for the winter, 
though a considerable number remain during that season along the 
coasts and estuaries of some of the more northern countries. 
Before the great changes effected by drainage in England it was a 
common species in many districts, but at the present day there are 
very few to which it can resort for the purpose of reproduction. 
In such of them as remain, its lively actions, both on the ground 
and in the air, as well as its loud notes, render the Redshank, during 
the breeding-season, one of the most observable inhabitants of what 
without its presence would often be a desolate spot, and invest it 
with a charm for the lover of wild nature. At other times the 
cries of this bird may be thought too shrill, but in spring the love- 
notes of the male form what may fairly be called a song, the 
constantly repeated refrain of which—leero, leero, leero (for so it may 
be syllabled)—rings musically around, as with many gesticulations 
he hovers in attendance on the flight of his mate; or, with a slight 
change to a different key, engages with a rival; or again, half 
angrily and half piteously complains of a human intruder on his 
chosen ground. The body of the Redshank is almost as big as a 
Snipe’s, but its longer neck, wings and legs make it appear a much 
1 Full details of the Redpolls most likely to be met with by European 
naturalists will be found in Dresser’s Birds of Europe (iv. pp. 37-57) and 
Yarrell’s British Birds (ed. 4, ii. pp. 133-152); and, resting upon considerable 
experience, may be recommended as trustworthy. Dr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Br. Mus. 
xii. pp. 245-247) recognizes two ‘‘species” of Redpoll—Acanthis linaria, with 
3 “subspecies” holbelli, rostrata and rufescens, and A. exilipes with a “‘sub- 
species” hornemanni ; but the reasons for taking this view of a confessedly very 
difficult subject are not clearly stated, and it would seem as if the specimens 
enumerated by him were chiefly sorted according to the length of their wing, 
which he is careful to give. 
