492 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



sharpest eye utterly fails to detect their presence. Old birds are 

 seen and heard in the course of April : their call is clearer and louder, 

 the final ii of the Djii being frequently repeated five or six times. 

 Old individuals in perfectly pure winter plumage occur here ex- 

 tremely rarely, and then mostly during severe frosts. 



The nesting-stations of this most numerous species of the genus 

 extend through the whole of central and northern Europe and 

 Asia. 



281. Spotted Redshank [DUNKLER WASSERLAUFER]. 

 TOTANUS FUSCUS, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Swart Juhlgutt = Black Sandpiper. 



Totanus fuscus. Naumann, viii. 123 ; xiii. Blasius, Nacldrdge, 242. 



Spotted Redshank. Dresser, viii. 165. 



Chevalier arlequin. Temminck, Manuel, ii. 639, iv. 413. 



The only perfect old male of this species in my collection was 

 obtained as far back as the llth of June 1847. Since that time 

 one old but less beautiful bird has been shot, and similar examples 

 have been seen on two or three other occasions. Of young- 

 autumn birds, about five or six examples have been shot during the 

 last fifty years. Consequently this peculiarly coloured Sandpiper 

 is considered amongst the great rarities of Heligoland. 



The breeding places of this species range from the far north 

 of Scandinavia to Behring's Strait. 



282. Greenshank [HELLER WASSERLAUFER]. 

 TOTANUS GLOTTIS, Bechstein. 1 



Heligolandish : Witt Juhlgutt= White Sandpiper. 



Totanus glottis. Naumann, viii. 145 ; xiii. Blasius, Nachtrdge, 243. 



Greenshank. Dresser, viii. 173. 



Chevalier aboyeur. Temminck, Mamtel, ii. 659, iv. 420. 



This beautiful species visits Heligoland regularly during its 

 spring passage, from the end of April until the middle of May, but 

 invariably only in solitary instances ; and of the individuals thus 

 observed only a very small number are ever shot, for the bird 

 is of a singularly shy disposition, and even the excellent bird-call of 

 a Claus Aeuckens will not tempt it within gun-shot range. Young 

 birds of the year appear abundantly in the course of August, and 

 are frequently shot, not having as yet developed the cautious 

 disposition of their parents. 



1 Totanus canescens (Gmel.). 



