REDSHANK 311 



parts white, streaked on the neck and breast with umber ; legs and 

 feet orange-red. Winter plumage : upper parts ash-colour ; rump 

 and under parts white, sparsely streaked and spotted with grey on 

 the neck and breast. The female is slightly larger than the male. 

 Length, eleven inches. 



The redshank, although not so numerous as formerly, is still a 

 fairly common bird of the tidal flats and saltings on the east coast 

 of England, and, in smaller numbers, in all suitable localities in 

 Great Britain and Ireland. It is resident throughout the year, but 

 is most plentiful in autumn and winter, at which time its numbers 

 are increased by the arrival of migrants from northern Europe. Its 

 food consists of marine worms, insects, and small crustaceans, and 

 when its feeding-grounds are covered at flood-tide, it may be seen in 

 close flocks on the small, dry areas, waiting for the water to subside. 

 When thus congregated the birds are very loquacious, keeping up a 

 perpetual confused sound of many voices, which has been compared 

 to the chirruping concert of a flock of house-sparrows before settling 

 down to roost of an evening. When the tide goes out the flocks 

 break up, and the birds scatter in all directions to feed. The red- 

 shank begins to breed about the end of May, in fens and inland 

 marshes, and on the saltings, out of reach of the tide. 



The nest is a slight depression in the ground, with a few dried 

 bents and grass-blades for lining, or with no lining at all, and is in 

 some cases quite exposed ; but it is more often placed among coarse 

 grass, or in the centre of a tussock, which conceals it from view. 

 Four eggs are laid, of a yellowish grey ground-colour, blotched and 

 spotted with purplish brown. When its breeding-haunts are ap- 

 proached the bird displays the greatest excitement, and flies circling 

 about high above the intruder's head ; and at such times a peculiar 

 manner of flight, common to all the species of the genus Totanus, 

 becomes very marked. The flight is slow and somewhat wavering, 

 with an occasional downward stroke of the wings, which are much 

 depressed, as of a duck about to drop on to the water. While flying in 

 this way it clamours loudly, making the marsh ring with its shrill, 

 piercing pipe, and at times dashes down close to the intruder's head, 

 as if to intimidate him ; and if there should be young, or eggs about 

 to hatch, it drops on to the ground, and flutters along the surface like 

 a wounded bird, in order to draw the danger away. Most birds in 

 the order which includes the sandpipers, snipes, and plovers, make 

 use of this device when their young are in danger. 



