300 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



Total length, 10 inches.; oilmen, 1*5; wing, 6'2 ; tail, 2*45; 

 tarsus, 1-65. 



Adult in Winter Plumage. Differs from the summer plumage in 

 being more uniform both above and below. The upper sur- 

 face is dark ashy-brown, the wing- coverts and inner secondaries 

 are also uniform brown, excepting for a few whitish notches and 

 bars at the end of the greater coverts and on some of the inner 

 secondaries ; otherwise the quills and tail-feathers are the same 

 as in the summer plumage ; throat and underparts white ; the 

 sides of the face and lower throat narrowly streaked with 

 blackish ; the fore-neck, chest, and sides of breast uniform 

 ashy-brown; the sides of the body, flanks, and under tail- 

 coverts white, with wavy bars of blackish-brown ; the centre of 

 the breast also mottled with a few spots and bars of brown ; 

 bill dark brown ; feet yellow iris dark brown. 



Young after First Moult. Similar to the winter plumage of the 

 adults, but more spangled above, with reddish-brown edges to 

 the feathers, and white or fulvous notches or bars on the wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries ; under surface of body with 

 triangular spots of brown on the fore-neck and breast, and the 

 sides of the body irregularly barred with brown. 



Nestling. Reddish above, longitudinally streaked with black; 

 the sides of the crown and sides of face buff, with a black line 

 through the eye ; down the centre of the crown rufous, with a 

 median line of black ; the nape and hind neck for the most 

 part black ; down the back a central line of black mesially mot- 

 tled with buff, and on each side of the back a broad line of pale 

 buff intersected by a line of black. 



Characters. The present species is easily told from the 

 other Tattlers by its white rump and white inner secondaries. 

 No other species of Totanus offers the above combinations of 

 characters. 



Range in Great Britain. The Red-shank breeds in suitable 

 places throughout the greater part of the United Kingdom, 

 affecting the marshy country, especially on the Broads and near 

 the coast rivers. It nests less commonly in Wales, and is rare 

 on the outer Hebrides, but occurs nearly everywhere else, either 

 as a nesting species or as an autumn visitor to tru coasts and 



