COMMON REDSHANK. 



LIMICOLJU. 



469 

 SCOLOPAOID^E. 



TOTANUS CALIDRIS (Linnaeus*). 



THE COMMON REDSHANK. 



Totanus calidris. 



THE COMMON REDSHANK is a numerous and well-known 

 species, and many are to be found in these islands all the 

 year, although the birds bred here are few in comparison with 

 the migrants which annually visit our shores. In the cold 

 season they frequent and feed by the sea, over those extensive 

 flats which are left bare by every receding tide, and the birds 

 are then seen in flocks ; in the spring, however, they retire 

 to fens and marshes, near pools or lakes, and to the banks 

 of rivers. 



Drainage and modern improvements have to a great 

 extent diminished the area of the breeding-places of the 



* Scolopax Calidris, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 245 (1766). 



