140 BRITISH BIRDS. 



TOTANUS CALIDRIS. 

 COMMON REDSHANK. 



(PLATE 32.) 



Scolopax totanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 145 (1758). 



Tringa totanus, j 



Tringa totanus striatus, i Sriss. Orn. v. pp. 188, 196, 200 (1760). 



Tringa totanus naevius, I 



Scolopax calidris, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 245 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(Gmelin), (Latham}, (ScMegel), (Gray), (Cabanis), (Dresser), (Saunters) ,&c. 

 Tringa gambetta, I ^^ Sy$t mt ^ p 24g (1766) 

 Tringa striata, I 



Totanus calidris (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Tascherib. ii. p. 284 (1803). 

 Gambetta calidris (Linn.), Kaup, Natilrl. Syst. p. 54 (1829). 



The Redshank is one of the commonest and best known of all the 

 Waders found in the British Islands. It is a resident, frequenting almost 

 all parts of the coasts in autumn and winter, and retiring more or less 

 inland in summer, at which season it is generally distributed, though 

 somewhat local. It breeds in all suitable districts in England, especially 

 in the low-lying eastern counties ; and in Scotland it is even more numerous, 

 extending to the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands. In the latter 

 islands it is, however, only sparingly met with in the breeding- season. It 

 is a common bird in Ireland, frequenting the coast in winter, but retiring 

 inland to breed. 



The geographical distribution of the Redshank is a somewhat peculiar 

 one. It breeds in all suitable localities throughout the whole of Europe 

 (except that east of the White Sea its range gradually drops down to lat. 

 58 on the Urals) and in North Africa. In the basin of the Mediterranean 

 it appears to be a resident, but to the whole of South Africa it is only a 

 winter visitor. In Siberia its breeding-range only extends as far north as 

 lat. 55, and appears to be confined to the mountains of Southern Siberia 

 and Turkestan. It breeds on the Caucasus, and probably on some of the 

 Persian highlands. It passes through Mongolia on migration, and winters 

 in India, Ceylon, Burma, China, and the islands of the Malay archipelago, 

 but has not been recorded from Japan. The Redshank does not appear to 

 be represented on the American continent. Its nearest ally is the Marsh- 

 Sandpiper, T. stagnatilis *, a slightly smaller bird, with brown instead of 

 red legs, which breeds in the southern portion of the Palsearctic Region, 



* This species has been recorded as British (Newman, 'Zoologist,' 1874, p. 4054). Mr. 

 Roberts states that a Mr. Edson, of Malton, informed him that a Marsh-Sandpiper was shot 

 about the 8th of January, presumably in the neighbourhood. No reliance can be placed 

 on such vague statements, 



