GREENSHANK/ 151 



flats and sands with easy activity, sometimes wading into the shallow 

 water, or standing motionless for a long time on a large stone or rock. It 

 is often flushed from quiet pools, little creeks, and rocky coasts at low 

 water. It is a very shy bird, and seldom fails to betray its whereabouts 

 by rising into the air and calling loudly, even before the observer is 

 within half a mile of it. On the wing its motions are rapid and uncertain. 

 It often twists from side to side in an erratic manner, and, with its 

 long wings beating rapidly, it is soon out of danger. It drops suddenly, 

 runs a little way, then stands and vibrates its body in a remarkable 

 manner. There is something very impetuous about the flight of this 

 interesting bird, and, as it is usually accompanied by the loud shrill 

 double note of tyii-tyu, it becomes the more striking and impressive. The 

 Greenshank often perches on trees, especially in the breeding-season. 



The food of the Greenshank is largely composed of insects and their 

 larvae, for which it not only searches in the mud, but amongst the 

 droppings of cattle on the banks of the lakes. It picks them from the 

 stems of grass and reeds, and snaps at them on the water or when flitting 

 past in the air. Naumann says that it eats tadpoles, and a small frog 

 has been found in its stomach. It also eats frog- and fish-spawn, small 

 shells, worms, and when on the shore crustaceans and other small marine 

 animals. Mr. Swaysland has taken five or six small minnows, about 

 one and a half inches in length, out of a bird shot at Brighton. 



In Scotland the breeding-season of the Greenshank begins early in 

 May, and its eggs are laid during the last half of that month. The 

 Greenshank is a wary watchful bird, and its nest is only discovered either 

 by accident or after the closest search. In Lapland the eggs are laid in 

 the first half of June. It is not at all social in the breeding-season, and 

 scatters itself in pairs at long and irregular distances. Its nest is 

 cunningly concealed amongst the heath and short herbage, and is very 

 slight, being a mere depression in the ground, lined with a few bits of dry 

 grass or withered leaves. Sometimes the nest is placed quite close to 

 the water, in a similar position to that usually chosen by the Common 

 Sandpiper, but more generally it is in situations similar to those selected 

 by the Golden Plover or the Dunlin. Sometimes the nest is built in a 

 tuft of grass, or on a little piece of higher ground surrounded with marsh. 

 The eggs are four in number, placed with their pointed ends inwards. 

 They vary from creamy white to buff in ground-colour, blotched and 

 spotted with rich dark brown, and with underlying shell-markings of 

 pinkish brown and grey. The large dark rich blotches are generally on 

 the large end of the egg, and often form a zone. Some eggs have the 

 markings no larger than a large pea, and equally distributed over the 

 entire surface. The underlying markings are large, and partake of the 

 character of blotches as well as spots. The eggs vary in length from 



