616 COMMON REDSHANK. 
and it is very local in Siberia, though more widely distributed during 
the summer over the elevated table-lands from Persia to Mongolia ; 
on passage it occurs in Japan, China, the Philippines, Borneo and 
Java, and it is plentiful in the Indian region during the cold season. 
The Redshank frequently breeds in small communities, and in 
marsh-land or pastures the nest is usually in the centre of a tuft of 
rushes or of long grass, the entwined blades of which conceal the 
contents from view ; but in many places the nest is as exposed as 
that of a Lapwing or of a Golden Plover. The 4 eggs are of a 
yellowish stone-colour blotched with purplish-brown, and measure 
1°75 by 1:2 in. In the south they are often laid during the 
first week in April, but they may be found fresh until the middle of 
May, or later in the north; incubation lasting twenty-two days 
(W. Evans). When the nest is approached the bird is very noisy 
and practises many artifices to allure the intruder from the neigh- 
bourhood ; while at other times it causes annoyance to sportsmen 
by flying round and alarming everything by its shrill note, which 
has obtained for it the local name of ‘ook in East Anglia and sock 
in Scandinavia. In spring the male may often be seen uttering a 
peculiar love-song while running along the top of a gate or fence, 
pirouetting and bowing to his partner like an amorous pigeon. 
Occasionally the bird perches on trees; it dives when wounded; 
and it has been seen swimming to shallow water on the other side 
of a creek rather than take wing. Its flight is quick though 
somewhat wavering, the white band on the extended wing being very 
conspicuous. The food consists of aquatic insects, worms, crusta- 
ceans, and small molluscs. During seven or eight months of the 
year this species frequents the margins of salt or brackish waters.‘\:- 
The adult male in summer has the upper parts buffish-brown, 
profuscly streaked and barred with umber; secondaries nearly 
white ; rump white with a few dusky flecks; tail-feathers white, 
thickly barred with blackish, and with a tinge of pale brown on the 
central pairs; under-parts white, streaked on the neck, breast and 
belly and barred on the flanks and axillaries with ash-brown; bill 
black anteriorly, basal half red; legs and feet bright orange-red. 
Length rx in. (bill 1°8), wing 6°25, tarsus 1°9 in. The female is 
rather larger and more rufous on the mantle. In winter the bird 
has the upper parts ash-colour, the rump white, and the under-parts 
nearly so, with a few ashy streaks and spots on the neck and breast; 
axillaries pure white. In the young the legs are yellow, the feathers 
of the mantle are edged with rufous-brown, and the belly is un- 
spotted, ~ S 
