54 NOKTH AMEEICAN SHOBEBIRDS. 



Europe and south to Abyssinia. A specimen was taken about 1830 

 near Godthaab, Greenland (Reinhard), and there are other less cer- 

 tain records of its occurrence in that country. 



Green.-sh.ank. Glottis nebularia (Gunn.). 



The green-shank has a very wide range in the Eastern Hemisphere. 

 It breeds in Scotland, northern Scandinavia, and east to northern 

 Siberia; it migrates along the coasts of both Europe and Asia, even 

 to Japan and the Commander Islands; it winters from southern 

 Europe and India to southern Africa and Australia. 



.The only record for the United States is that of three specimens 

 taken by Audubon, May 28, 1832, on Sand Key, near Cape Sable, 

 Florida. The species has also been recorded as ian accidental visitant 

 to Chile (Schlegel) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (Seebohm) . 

 Common Red-shank. Totanus totanus (Linn.). 



The common red-shank is scarcely entitled to a place among North American birds. 

 Its claim rests only on the description by Swainson and Richardson of a specimen 

 from Hudson Bay which they said existed in the British Museum. 



The common red-shank is a well-known species of Europe and Asia, where it breeds 

 from Iceland and the Faroe Islands to southern Siberia and Turkestan and south to 

 northern Africa. It winters in southern Europe, throughout most of Africa, and in 

 Asia south to India and the Malay Archipelago. 



Greater Yellow-Iegs. Totanus melanoleucus (Gmel.). 



Breeding range. — Knowledge of the summer home of the greater 

 yellow-legs is much lacking in definiteness. One of the best known 

 facts is that the bird does not go far north, since it is one of the few 

 species of the family not found on the Arctic coast, nor even to the 

 Arctic Circle. The most northern records are: Near Fort Chimo, 

 Ungava (Turner) ; accidental once at Cumberland Sound (Kumlien) ; 

 on the west shore of Hudson Bay to about Cape Eskimo (Preble); 

 Fort Simpson, Mackenzie (Ross); and to Kupreanof Island (Osgood), 

 Lake Iliamna (Osgood), and St. Paul Island (Scale) — all in Alaska, 

 The southern limit of the breeding range is more difficult to deter- 

 mine, since the mere presence of the bird in summer is not sufficient 

 proof that it is breeding. Individuals are found during every month 

 of the year in the West Indies, Bahamas, Florida, Texas (Sennett), 

 and California (Grinnell), but it is not probable that the species breeds 

 in any of these localities. 



Eggs taken in British Columbia at Fort George and Fort St. James 

 (specimens in United States National Museum) are probably the only 

 certainly identified eggs of the species known. The bird probably 

 breeds in British Columbia as far south as Clinton (Rhoads), and east- 

 ward across Canada, north of about the fiftieth parallel of latitude. 



Winter range. — ^The greater yellow-legs winters to the southern end of 

 the mainland of South America. To the north it occurs on both coasts 

 and in Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to the coast of 



