524 RARE BRITISH BIRDS 



GREATER - YELLOWSHANK [Tutanus melanoleucus (Gmelin) ; Trinrja melanoleuca 

 (Gmelin). Greater-yellowlegs. 



1. Description. Distinguished from the redshanks on the one hand and the yellowshank 



on the other by the dusky brown coloration of the rump. Length about 14 in. [355 mm.]. 

 The adult in breeding plumage has the upper part brownish grey heavily blotched with black, 

 and with white spots and margins to all the feathers; rump and upper tail-coverts white, 

 barred with brownish black ; tail barred with greyish brown and white ; primaries uniform 

 blackish brown, the shaft of the first feather being ivory-white ; secondaries and their coverts 

 blackish grey, barred and toothed with white ; chin white, minutely spotted with blackish brown ; 

 fore-neck and upper chest white, streaked with blackish brown; remainder of under surface, 

 including the axillaries and under wing-coverts, white barred with blackish brown. After the 

 autumn moult the black blotches of the upper surface are absent, and the black markings on 

 the chest and belly are absent, [w. p. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Breeds in North America from Lake Iliamna, Alaska, and South 

 Mackenzie to the south of British Columbia, Ungava, Labrador, and Anticosti Island, but in 

 very few cases have the eggs been found. Migrates southward in winter, and winters from 

 S. Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia (occasionally also in N. Carolina) south to Patagonia, 

 visiting the Bermudas on migration. One definite (and possibly a second) record from England 

 (Scilly Isles and Warwick). [F. c. R. J.] 



DUSKY-REDSHANK [Totanus fiiscus (Linnaeus) ; Tringa erythropus (Pallas). Spotted red- 

 shank. French, chevalier brun', German, dunkelfarbige Wasserliiufer ; Italian 

 gambetta mora]. 



1. Description. Differs from the common - redshank in having the bill 2 in. long 

 instead of 1| in., as in the latter species, and by the general colour of the upper and under 

 surface, which is greyish black. Length 12 in. [305 mm.]. The top of the head and the 

 general colour of the upper parts is dark greyish black, with spots and bars of brown or 

 white ; primaries and their coverts brown, the former white on their inner webs, freckled with 

 brown; lower back pure white; rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail barred with white and 

 black ; sides of face, throat, and under surface of body uniform greyish black ; under tail-coverts 

 barred with black and white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white ; iris brown ; 

 bill dark brown ; basal half of lower mandible dusky red ; legs and toes orange-red ; claws 

 black. The adult in winter plumage has the upper surface grey, the lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts white, the latter barred with black ; primary coverts and secondaries grey, 

 edged or notched with white ; superciliary streak white ; sides of face white, streaked with grey ; 

 under surface of body white, streaked on the fore-neck with dusky grey. [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. Breeds in Arctic Europe and Asia. In Norway it nests from Vadsci 

 (lat. 70 N.) to about the Arctic Circle ; in Sweden in the wooded swamps of North Lapland ; in 

 Finland from the north of Finnish Lapland south to Savolax. In Russia, according to Buturlin, 

 it breeds on the tundra of the north of Europe and Asia, but not beyond lat. 72 N., or on 

 the Arctic islands, near Archangel, in the governments of Moscow, Kazan, Perm, and N.E. 

 Orenburg ; and in Asia is reported to breed in Turkestan, is common in the Kolyma delta 

 (lat. 69 to 69J ), an< i breeds east to Kamtschatka. Migrating southward through Europe, 

 it winters in the Mediterranean region and Northern Africa, but I can find no authority for the 

 statement that it has been recorded from Cape Colony ; l and in Asia winters in Mesopotamia, 

 Transcaspia, Persia, India, Burma, China, and Japan. It is an uncommon passage migrant in 

 England, and has occurred under twenty times in Scotland and about twenty times in Ireland. 

 [F. c. R. J.]. 



1 Dresser, Eggs of the Birds of Europe, p. 714. 



