446 SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



buff and striated with dark brown, save only the centre of the breast and abdomen, 

 which are white, and the under tail-coverts, which are white transversely barred 

 with black. The young in down are of a rich buff above, relieved on the crown 

 by loops of black, and a loral streak of the same hue, which is continued backwards 

 behind the eyes to join its fellow at the nape ; on the back by a median and two 

 lateral longitudinal bands of black ; and on the wing by a short bar of black. The 

 under parts are white, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. The breeding range of this species has increased enormously 

 in England, especially during the last ten years or so, and there are now very few 

 counties in which it does not breed locally, especially in the low-lying meadows 

 by rivers and marshes. In Wales it is not common, but is widely distributed in 

 Scotland, though less numerous in the Orkneys and Shetlands, and rare in the 

 Outer Hebrides. In Ireland it breeds in most counties, except apparently those 

 on the south coast. Outside the British Isles it nests in Iceland, the Faeroes, and 

 on the Continent north to Tromso in Norway ; the shores of the Arctic Ocean 

 and White Sea, and lat. 58 in the Ural in Russia. Southward it is found in suitable 

 localities throughout Europe south to the Straits of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean 

 and Black Seas, though scarce in Greece. It is also recorded as breeding in Marocco 

 and Sardinia. In Asia it ranges north to lat. 56 in W. Siberia, and 54 or 55 

 in E. Siberia, and from Asia Minor in the west to Yarkand and South Tibet. During 

 the winter it ranges in Africa south to Cape Colony and Natal, and in Asia to 

 Arabia, India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, China, and Japan, while it also visits 

 the Malay Archipelago (Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and the Philippines), and has 

 occurred on the Canaries, [r. c. B. j.] 



3. Migration. A summer visitor, from mid-March till September, in the 

 inland districts, but found all the year round on the coast. There is little definite 

 information on the subject of overseas migration (see p. 510). Gregarious. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. When undisturbed, the redshank is social in the breeding 

 season, and the nests may be found not far apart. They are often very artfully con- 

 cealed, sometimes being quite invisible from above. A favourite site is in the middle 

 of a high tuft of dead rank grass or rushes, the leaves being drawn together over the 

 nest hollow, which is lined with dry bents. (PL LVI.) In some cases the nests are, 

 however, quite open and easily found. Low meadows and coarse pastures are not 

 the only breeding-places of this species, for it may also be found on high moorlands, 

 far from any water. The share of the parent birds in building has apparently not 

 been recorded. The eggs are normally 4 in number, though sometimes only 3 are 



