GREENSHANK 351 



in the Shetlands or Orkneys (Buckley and Harvie-Brown, 

 * Vertebrate Fauna of Sutherland and Caithness '). 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, it breeds over a vast 

 area of Northern Europe and Asia, migrating in winter 

 over these Continents, and reaching as far as Australia. 

 According to Mr. Saunders, considerable numbers do not 

 travel further in winter than the Mediterranean basin and 

 the Canaries. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head and hind- 

 neck, greyish-white streaked with dark brown ; back, 

 scapulars, wing-coverts, and secondaries, blackish, edged 

 with grey; primaries, blackish -bro wn ; lower back and 

 upper tail-coverts, white ; tail, white, splashed and barred 

 with brown ; throat, front and sides of neck, cheeks, breast, 

 and flanks, streaked and spotted with pale brown on a white 

 ground ; abdomen and under tail-coverts, white. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter, male and female. The top of the head, 

 back, and sides of the neck have lighter streaks, and the 

 variegated markings on the back, scapulars, and wings, also 

 exhibit lighter shades of grey than in the nuptial plumage ; 

 in fact the upper plumage of the Greenshank in winter 

 may be shortly described as a ' chequered tweed-grey ' ; 

 chin, throat, front of neck, breast, (save a small portion 

 of the sides), abdomen, under tail-coverts, and flanks, pure 

 white ; a white stripe extends from the base of the beak 

 to the front of the eye ; central tail-feathers, greyish-white, 

 barred with light brown; lateral tail-feathers, chiefly white, 

 spotted on their outer webs with greyish-brown. 



Immature, male and female. Somewhat resembles the 

 adult winter-plumage, but the feathers of the back, scapulars, 

 and wings, are edged with dark buff, and the neck, breast, 

 and flanks, are finely streaked with dark greyish-brown. 



BEAK. Blackish; very slightly recurved. 



FEET. Dull greenish ; long and slender. 



IRIDES. Blackish-brown. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 12 in. 



WING 7'25 



BEAK 2'25 ,, 



TARSO-METATAESUS 2*25 ,, 



EGG ... 1-9 x 1-3 in. 



