260 LONG-BILLED RUNNING BIRDS. 



flight- feathers, which are white ; crown and nape 

 brown ; face and under parts white, streaked and 

 barred with brown ; bill, considerably longer than 

 the head, black at the end, red at the base ; legs 

 and feet orange-red. Winter : ashy-brown above ; 

 white below. Resident. 



Eggs.^ — 4, straw-colour, spotted and blotched with 

 dark reddish-brown and some gray; 1'75 ^ 12 inch 

 (plate 132). 



Nest. — In a tuft of rushes or grass, with some slight 

 addition of dry grass-stems or bits of rush as lining. 



The Redshank is generally distributed throughout 

 the United Kingdom, both on tlie coasts and on inland 

 marshes. Though a resident bird, it is met in greater 

 numbers at the times of migration. It is at all times 

 a sociable bird, nesting in small, loose communities 

 among inland marsh growth, and on the salt-marshes 

 above the tide. It is commonly present in small 

 flocks on the shore-flats at ebb. Its note is a clear, 

 melancholy ' Ti/o-tyo-ti/o ! ' and with this it notifies 

 the approach of an even distant observer. The long 

 legs help to carry ofl" the long bill, and impart an 

 elegance to the proportions of a Redshank not present 

 in the smaller, more squat waders frequenting the 

 shore. As it flies, the white rump, combined with 

 the white tract on each wing formed b}' the middle 

 series of flight-feathers, declares the Redshank. The 

 birds fly in close formation, the wings, when not 

 vibrated, being held much bent, giving them a 

 hooked appearance. When changing their course 

 Redshanks do not wheel, but change front with a 

 common movement. When their nesting- haunts are 



