Shore-bird Shooting 405 



the duties of nidification, laying its four dark 

 eggs early in May, in a rather deep hollow lined 

 with a few grasses, in some dry tussock. Some- 

 times in such places colonies may be found, many 

 pairs selecting the same locality to rear their 

 young. Shy as a rule, at this season they lose all 

 fear and attack man, cow, horse, or hawk, swoop- 

 ing at the head of the invader with a loud tyii, 

 tyii, and not losing courage, though many may 

 be shot. The downy young, when only a day or 

 so old, wander among the coarse grasses, calling 

 plaintively when the rank growth hides them 

 from one another. 



EUROPEAN GREENSHANK 

 (Tot anus nebularius) 



Adult male and female in breeding plumage— Top of head, neck, 

 scapulars, and back, gray, striped with black, margin of feathers, 

 white ; wing-coverts, dark brown, edged with white ; primaries, 

 blackish brown, with white shafts to first ; lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts, white, with irregular bars of black on the 

 tail-coverts ; central tail feathers, gray, with dusky bars ; the 

 two next to central, barred with black ; others, pure white ; 

 under parts, white ; neck and breast, streaked and spotted with 

 black ; iris, brown ; bill, black ; legs and feet, olive-green. 



Adult male and female in winter plumage — Above, pale ash-gray, 

 feathers, tipped with white and with dark shaft streak; fore- 

 head, white ; lores and centre of forehead, dusky ; under parts, 

 pure white. 



Young — Similar to adults in winter, but more tinged with rufous 

 brown above, and feathers spotted with whitish brown ; central 

 tail feathers, white, barred with black ; chest and sides of breast, 

 streaked and spotted with dusky. 



