LONG-BILLED RUNNING BIRDS. 261 



invaded, Redshanks fly about the intruder like 



upbraiding Lapwings, uttering a ceaselessly iterated 



' Tyop ! tyop ! ' 



GREENSHANK— 14 inches. Very like the E«dshank in 

 general appearance, and in the length of leg and bill, 

 but the last is slightly upturned, and the legs are olive- 

 green. The Greenshank may be infallibly distinguished 

 from the Redshank by the fact that the fiight-feathers 

 in the wings of the former are all dark. 



GREENSHANK.— Plate 110. 14 inches. Upper 

 darts gray, mottled with dark brown and white ; lower 

 back to tail white ; wings dark ; tail white, barred and 

 spotted with brown, but clearer on the outer feathers ; 

 face and under parts white, with dark spots and 

 streaks ; bill, considerably longer than the head, dark 

 brown ; legs and feet olive-green. Winter migrant. 



Eggs. — 4, cream-colour, spotted and blotched with 

 deep red-brown and some gray ; 1 "9 >< 1 "3 inch 

 (plate 133)! 



Nest, — Sometimes in a tuft like a Redshank's ; at 

 others a depression in the ground among heather or 

 grass, with a few bits of dry grass or heather for 

 lining. 



The Greenshank is known as a breeding bird in 

 the north of Scotland, and in some of the islands west 

 of it. In England it occurs at the spring and autumn 

 migrations. At such times it feeds on the shore-flats 

 or frequents the borders of inland waters, sometimes 

 alone, sometimes in small parties. The slight up- 

 ward curvature at the end of the bill has no doubt 

 some connection with the bird's habit of pushing the 



