178 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



before the public in London; and the Rev. 1\ 0. Morris, 

 in his ' Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of British 

 Birds/ gives a representation of the egg of this Totanus, 

 which was taken in Finland in 1854. In this representa- 

 tion the egg exceeds that of the Common Redshank in size, 

 is proportionally large at the greater end, and tapers much 

 towards the smaller; the ground is of a greenish colour, 

 and the spotting, which is rich, consists of brown and grey 

 markings. 



THE COMMON REDSHANK. Totanus calidris. "This 

 species is one of the most common of the larger British 

 Totani; and, although breeding in marshes, is perhaps more 

 decidedly a maritime species than the others/' It is also 

 generally distributed over the greater part of Europe, and 

 in Asia it is believed to have been found in India and Japan. 

 Like the Snipe, it breeds in marshy wastes, and in this 

 country is most common, Mr. Hewitson says, in the fenny 

 districts of the counties of Cambridge and Lincoln, although 

 occasionally breeding in other parts of England and Scot- 

 land. The nest is nothing more than a few dry grasses 

 placed in a depression on the ground, or in a tuft of herb- 

 age in the vicinity of water. The Redshank lays four eggs, 

 much resembling those of the Pewit in size and general ap- 



