PLATE I 

 REDSHANK. Totanus calidris 



April 3O//2, 1896. This nest was placed in the middle of a swampy field 

 near the Lake of Monteith, Perthshire. In this same field I examined no 

 fewer than nine Redshanks' nests in one morning, all of which were in very 

 damp places, and in one case actually in water. 



Although this particular meadow has been extensively drained lately, 

 and the grass is well eaten down by cattle, still the Redshank frequent it 

 in the same numbers as of yore when the water used to lie on it in large 

 pools all the summer, and the principal crop was rushes and marsh- 

 marigolds. Down the side of the field is a fence and some dead alder 

 bushes, on the branches of which I have seen the Redshank perch on 

 many occasions, while one could rarely pass in spring without seeing 

 one or two birds on the tops of the fence-posts bowing and scraping and 

 going through other antics of courtship. 



VOL. in. c 



