376 BIEDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



autumn, when both old and young are on their jour- 

 ney South from the very high northern latitudes, 

 where they breed, generally within the arctic circle. 



The food of the Spotted Redshank appears to 

 consist of small shell-fish, frog-spawn and aquatic 

 insects of all descriptions, small frogs, beetles and 

 worms, but no vegetable matter of any kind. 



This bird may be distinguished from the Common 

 Redshank by the general colour of its plumage at 

 various seasons : it is also rather larger in size, 

 though perhaps more slender and elegant in shape ; 

 the legs and toes are longer, but more slender in 

 proportion, as is the beak. I have known a young 

 Godwit mistaken for this species ; but it may easily 

 be distinguished from the Godwits by the upward 

 turn of the beak in those birds, their larger size and 

 thicker legs and toes. The following description is 

 taken from a bird in my collection, shot at Teign- 

 inouth, in Devonshire, in the autumn or winter, but 

 as I never saw the bird in the flesh, and did not get 

 it until the legs and beak had been coloured by the 

 birdstuffer, I cannot say anything about their 

 original colour. The top of the head, back of the 

 neck, back and scapulars ash-grey, some of the 

 feathers slightly margined with white ; there is a 

 streak of white from the base of the upper mandible 

 over the eye ; the space between the beak and the 

 eye darkish ash-grey ; the lesser wing-coverts are 

 ash-grey, margined with white, in some of the 



