60 THE BIRDS OF RAINHAM. 



REDSHANK. 

 Totanus calidris (Linn.). 



The Redshank is an old inhabitant of our salt- 

 marsh and mud-flats, probably from time imme- 

 morial ; there they constantly breed and rear their 

 young. Owing, however, to the extended traffic on 

 the Medway and the carrying away of the marsh 

 clay for the purposes of cement, their numbers in 

 the breeding-season are becoming gradually reduced ; 

 some few still favour us in the spring with their 

 loud ringing call and roundabout flight, reminding 

 us, wherever a piece of salt-marsh remains, of their 

 close attachment to the spot. 



SPOTTED REDSHANK. 

 Totanus fuscus (Linn.). 



The Spotted Redshank pays our mud-flats a visit 

 generally in the autumn. On one afternoon I met 

 with a pair in the front of a snow-storm in mid- 

 winter. Young birds appear to be the rule, old birds 

 the exception. The latter are met with occasionally. 



GREEN SANDPIPER. 

 Totanus ochropus (Linn.). 



Common enough in the autumn about September 

 and October. In that wet year, 1860, a pair remained 



