Redshank. 417 



immense height, generally in line, one leading, the rest following, 

 not directly, but en tchelon, and are constantly repeating their 

 call- note.* In France it is Le petit Courlis or Courlis Courlieu ; 

 in Germany, Regen Brachvogel; in Italy, Chiurlo minore; in 

 Spain, Zarapito ; in Portugal, Ma$arico ; and in Sweden, Sma- 

 Spof. 



152. REDSHANK (Totanus calidris). 



This species is thoroughly well known on the coast, and little 

 beloved by the shore- shooter, for its wary eye is the first to 

 detect the intruder, and its shrill note of alarm, as it hurries off 

 on rapid wing, puts every bird in the marsh on the alert. So 

 well known is this its regular habit in every country it frequents, 

 that in Greece it is nicknamed pdprvpos, or the ' Tell-tale,' and 

 in Sweden Tolk, or the * Interpreter.' Sir E. Payne-Gallwey, 

 indeed, says that this is ' not from timidity, for it will continue 

 its search for food within a few yards of your punt, but from 

 pure restlessness of disposition, which never allows it to remain 

 long in one spot ; and on the wing it always calls loudly, whether 

 near or far, and whether frightened or unsuspicious.'f I must, 

 however, own that this is contrary to my experience, for I always 

 found it to be the most timid and the first to take alarm of all 

 the birds on the shore ; and, indeed, that such is its general 

 character the nicknames mentioned above sufficiently prove. 

 One writer has observed that he was much struck with the 

 curious manner in which Kedshanks dart their bill into the 

 sand nearly its whole length, by jumping up and thus giving 

 it a sort of impetus, by the weight of their bodies pressing it 

 downwards. It is a bird of erect, somewhat martial bearing, and 

 used to be known in England, according to Bewick and others, 

 as the ( Red-legged Horseman,' and in France, according to 

 Temminck, as Chevalier gambette, and, according to Cuvier, as Le 

 grand Chevalier au pieds rouges. By Italian authors it is 

 described as Gambetta, which signifies a 'small thin leg/ and 



' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 111. 

 t ' The Fowler in Ireland/ p. 239. 



27 



