COMMON REDSHANK. 629 



flocks ; in the spring, however, they retire to fens and 

 marshes, near pools or lakes, and to the banks of rivers, 

 where during the breeding-season they are only seen singly 

 or in pairs. They feed on aquatic insects, and on marine 

 or other worms, which they probe for with their beaks in 

 soft mud. Mr. Thompson says they are common in Ire- 

 land, and a writer in the first volume of the Naturalist 

 mentions " that they are very numerous in Dublin Bay, 

 where it is stated these birds may sometimes be seen in 

 very large flocks, frequently amounting to one hundred and 

 fifty or two hundred ; and the larger the flock, the more 

 shy and difficult were the birds of approach ; they are 

 always on the look-out, and take wing on the least alarm 

 or any appearance of danger ; when running along the 

 sands, the Redshank has the same kind of dipping motion 

 for which some of the smaller Sandpipers are so remark- 

 able. I was very much struck with the curious manner 

 in which they dart their bills into the sand nearly its whole 

 length, by jumping up, and thus giving it a sort of im- 

 petus, if I may use the word, by the weight of their 

 bodies pressing it downwards." 



Redshanks are not uncommon in Cornwall, Devonshire, 

 and Dorsetshire. They still frequent Romney Marsh as 

 they did in the days of Montagu, for the purpose of breed- 

 ing. Mr. Jesse sent me a specimen killed at Hampton in 

 autumn. The authors of the Catalogue of the Norfolk 

 and Suffolk birds say, " The Redshank is found in con- 

 siderable numbers in many of the marshes both of Norfolk 

 and Suffolk during the breeding-season. It is indeed more 

 common than any other kind of wader. To sportsmen it 

 is very troublesome, flying around them and uttering an 

 incessant shrill whistle, which alarms all the other birds 

 near the spot." 



The Redshank is found, as might be expected, in Lin- 



