GREENSHANK. 149 



TOTANUS GLOTTIS *. 



GREENSHANK. 

 (PLATE 29.) 



Limosa grisea, Briss. Orn. v. p. 267 (1760). 



Scolopax glottis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 245 (1766, winter plumage) ; et auctorum 

 plurimorum Tunstall, Latham, (Bechsteiri), Turton, (Leach), (Forster), 

 (Gould), (Horsfield), (Blyth), (Middendorff), (Layard), (Schlegel), (Jerdon), 

 {Newton), (Swinhoe), (Heugliri), (Salvadori), (Legge), (Walden), (Hume), &c. 



Scolopax nebularius, Gunner, Leem. Beskr. Finm. Lapp. p. 251 (1767). 



Scolopax cineracea, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 292 (1787). 



Scolopax canescens, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 688 (1788). 



Totanus glottis (Linn.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 287 (1803). 



Totanus fistulans, 1 ^^ N DeutscM. iv. pp. 241, 249 (1809). 



Totanus griseus (Bnss.), \ 



Totanus cliloropus, Meyer, Taschenb. ii. p. 371 (1810). 



Limicula glottis (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 32 (1816). 



Glottis chloropus (Meyer), Nilsson, Orn. Suecica, ii. p. 57 (1821). 



Limosa totanus (Linn.), apud Patt. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 183 (1826). 



Glottis nivigula, Hodgs. Gray's Zool. Miscell. ii. p. 36 (1831). 



Totanus glottoides, Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 173. 



Limosa glottoides ( Vigors), I ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ m ^ 163 



Totanus horsfieldii, 



Glottis floridanus, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 51 (1838). 



Glottis canescens (Gmel.), \ 



Glottis vigorsii, > Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 99 (1844). 



Glottis horsfieldii (Sykes), I 



The Greenshank is a regular, though not very abundant, summer 

 migrant to the British Islands, where it has been obtained in almost every 

 county. It is of course most numerous on the low-lying coasts of the 



* Gray was probably the first person to rake up a new name for the Greenshank (List 

 Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 99, 1844), and most subsequent ornithologists, like a flock of sheep, 

 always ready to follow a lead, whether good or bad, adopted it. Now that they find 

 there are two older names, it will have to be thrown aside. The diagnosis of Scolopax 

 glottis in the ' Systema Naturae,' as well as in the ' Fauna Suecica,' is not every thing that 

 could be wished. The colour of the legs is described as greenish, which narrows the 

 choice to the Greenshank and the Bar-tailed Godwit, both of which are otherwise repre- 

 sented in the two works. The statement that the base of the under mandible is red 

 undoubtedly applies more correctly to the Bar-tailed Godwit than to the Greenshank ; but 

 examples of the latter, probably birds of the year, frequently show this peculiarity in the 

 dried skin. The greater number of the diagnoses of Linnaeus are hopelessly bad, and the 

 only way to retain his names is to give those which have been generally accepted the 

 benefit of the doubt. Ornithologists will find that there is no rest for the soles of their 

 feet until they adopt the common-sense rule of accepting the name auctorum plurimorum. 



