GREEN SHANK 



Totanus canescens 



HE Greenshank is a regular summer visitor to the British 

 Islands, remaining to breed in some of the northern 

 counties of Scotland, including the Hebrides. Though 

 it is well known both in England and Ireland, and 

 frequents the sea-coasts during spring and autumn, we 

 have no authentic record of its breeding in either of 

 these countries. 



The Greenshank usually arrives in Great Britain about the end of April 

 or the beginning of May, on its way from the Mediterranean to its breeding- 

 grounds in the north, leaving our shores again on the southward journey in 

 September and the beginning of October. On its first arrival in this country 

 the Greenshank frequents the low-lying, muddy parts of the coast, and is 

 a very noticeable bird with its rapid, erratic flight and its loud alarm-note, a 

 double ' tcii-teu: It is very shy and wary, and generally gets up about half 

 a mile from the intruder, making a tremendous fuss, and putting all the other 

 birds on the alert. It is sometimes seen in small flocks, but more commonly 

 in solitary pairs, feeding among the little pools and creeks left bare by the 

 tide at low water. 



The food of the Greenshank consists chiefly of insects and their larvae, 

 worms, etc., for which it searches in the muddy pools, among the rank 

 grass, or even among the droppings of animals. It is also very partial to 

 tadpoles and frog-spawn; I used to see a pair come to feed every evening 

 at a small horse-pond in Strathspey, which was simply alive with tadpoles. 

 The Greenshanks used to be very busy there for the best part of 

 an hour every night, running about in the shallow water with easy 

 grace and great swiftness of foot, picking up the tadpoles and small water- 

 beetles. 



