OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 239 



Family CHARADEIID^E. Genus TOTANUS. 



Subfamily TOTANIN^E. 



QREENSHANK. 



TOTANUS GLOTTIS (Linnams). 



Scolopax glottis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 245 (1766). 



Glottis chloropus (Meyer); Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 319 (1852). 



Totanus canescens (Gmel.) ; Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 173, pi. 570 (1871) ; Yarrell, 

 Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 483 (1883). 



Totanus glottis (Linn.), Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 149 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. 

 Brit. B. pt. xviii. (1891) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. B. p. 271 (1893) ; Seebohm, 

 Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 141, pi. 41 (1896). 



Glottis nebularius (Gunner); Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 280 (1896) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 481 (1896). 



Geographical distribution. British: The Greenshank is a regular 

 visitor on spring and autumn migration to our islands, both inland and on the 

 coast, most numerous on the eastern seaboard in England, and in Ireland a few 

 remaining over the winter, although it is not known to breed in that country. 

 Most of the birds that visit us are on their way to or from their breeding grounds 

 in Northern Europe, but a few spread over parts of the north and west of Scotland 

 to spend the summer. Here it breeds sparingly in the Hebrides, and in greater 

 abundance over Inverness, Argyle, Perthshire, Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, 

 but not apparently in the Orkneys or Shetlands, which is a matter for surprise. 

 Foreign : Northern Palaearctic region ; Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian 

 regions in winter. It breeds on the tundras of Scandinavia and Lapland, in 

 Northern Russia and Siberia up to lat. 66, and as far south as lat. 60, eastwards 

 to the Stanavoi Mountains, north of the Sea of Okhotsk, Kamtschatka, and the 

 Kurile Islands. It passes the European and Pacific coasts, including those of 

 Japan, as well as along internal routes on migration, and winters in the basin of 

 the Mediterranean, on the coasts and central lakes of Africa, in India, Ceylon, 

 Burmah, China, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia. The presence of the 

 Greenshank, during our winter, in such temperate regions of the southern 

 hemisphere as Cape Colony, South Australia, and Tasmania suggests that the 

 bird breeds in them although direct proof of the fact is yet wanting. As is the 

 case with so many birds belonging to this family, it is a great wanderer during 

 winter, and stragglers have occurred at that season on Norfolk Island and 

 Mauritius, Aldabra Island, Gloriosa, Ann'rantes, and the Seychelles, in Florida, 

 Buenos Ayres, and Chili. 



