260 LONG-BILLED RUNNING BIRDS. 



flight- feathers, which are white ; crown and nape 

 brown ; face and under parts white, streaked and 

 barred with brown ; bill, considerably longer than 

 the head, black at the end, red at the base ; legs 

 and feet orange-red. Winter : ashy -brown above ; 

 white below. Resident. 



EggfS. — 4, straw-colour, spotted and blotched with 

 dark reddish-brown and some gray; 1'75 >< 1"2 inch 

 (plate 132). 



Nest. — In a tuft of rushes or grass, with some slight 

 addition of dry grass-stems or bits of rush as lining. 



The Redshank is generally distributed throughout 

 the United Kingdom, both on the coasts and on inland 

 marshes. Though a resident bird, it is met in greater 

 numbers at the times of migration.. It is at all times 

 a sociable bird, nesting in small, loose communities 

 among inland marsh growth, and on the salt-marshes 

 above the tide. It is commonly present in small 

 flocks on the shore-flats at ebb. Its note is a clear, 

 melancholy ' Tyo-tyo-tyo ! ' and with this it notifies 

 the approach of an even distant observer. The long 

 legs help to carry off the long bill, and impart an 

 elegance to the proportions of a Redshank not present 

 in the smaller, more squat waders frequenting the 

 shore. As it flies, the white rump, combined with 

 the white tract on each wing formed by the middle 

 series of flight-feathers, declares the Redshank. The 

 birds fly in close formation, the wings, when not 

 vibrated, beihg held much bent, giving them a 

 hooked appearance. When changing their course 

 Redshanks do not wheel, but change front with a 

 common movement. When their nesting- haunts are 



