256 BIRDS OF EGYPT. 



Winter plumage. — Upper parts hair-brown; lower half of 

 the back and rump pure white ; tail-coverts white, with well- 

 defined dusky bars ; tail dusky, with numerous white bars, 

 the white on the outer tail-feathers not so pure as in T. calidris ; 

 wing-coverts and secondaries edged vsdth white and barred 

 with brown ; underparts white ; beak long, slender, and 

 straight, slightly hooked at the point, of a dark brown colour, 

 inclining to pale reddish brown towards the base of the lower 

 mandible ; legs brownish red ; irides brown. 



Specimens vary considerably in plumage according to 

 season, changing in summer to a deep slate-colour more or 

 less barred with white. 



Entu-e length 12 inches; culmen 2'4 ; wing, carpus to 

 tip, 6"5 ; tarsus 2'2. 



Fig. Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 309. 



//) • 261. ToTANUS CANESCENS (Gm.). Greenshank. 



/fo\A^ A The Greenshank is plentifully distributed throughout 



Egypt and Nubia, where it frequents the Nile banks, canals, 

 and pools, usually singly or in pairs, and is rarely met with 

 in the larger marshes of the Delta, where the Redshank 

 abounds. Its well-known call consists of three whistling 

 notes, which may be easily imitated, and will rarely fail to 

 attract the bird within reach of the gun. 



Winter plumage. — Head whitish, with dusky black centres 

 to the feathers on the crown ; ear-coverts and in front of the 

 eye, back of the neck, scapulars, and inner secondaries greyish 

 ash-colour, with a dark streak next to the shafts, and the 

 edges of the larger feathers paler and barred with dark 



