OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 227 



known to return and breed in favourite spots even after the 

 marshes have been reclaimed and turned into fields. The usual 

 summer haunts of the Redshank are broads and fens, swampy 

 moors, and the wet ground surrounding mountain lochs and 

 streams. It is just as wary here as on the coast, and the moment 

 its haunts are invaded by man it rises in the air, uttering its shrill 

 notes of alarm; here and there a few more venturesome birds 

 than the rest remain standing daintily poised on some little 

 hillock, or in the bed of the stream, often swaying their 

 elegant bodies up and down as if full of nervous excitement and 

 undecided as to which course to follow, to remain on the ground 

 or join the noisy birds careering about high in air above them. 

 In southern districts the Redshank begins to lay early in April, 

 but in the north of Scotland it is more than a month later, 

 whilst in the' Arctic regions fresh eggs may be found up to the 

 end of June. Numbers of pairs nest in close proximity, and all 

 through the breeding period parties of birds may be observed 

 feeding and flying together. The nest is well concealed, often 

 beneath an arched tuft of herbage, or in the centre of a hummock 

 of grass, or under the shelter of a bush or large weed. But little 

 if any nest is made; the site selected is trampled into a little 

 hollow, which may or may not be lined with a few scraps of dry 

 vegetable refuse. The eggs are four in number, ranging from 

 pale to dark buff in ground colour, handsomely spotted and 

 blotched with rich dark brown, and underlying markings of paler 

 brown and gray. Occasionally a few streaks occur. They are 

 pyriform in shape, and measure on an average 175 inch in length 

 by I '2 inch in breadth. Many eggs of this bird are gathered for 

 the table during the season. Only one brood is reared in the year. 

 Incubation is said by Naumann to last from fourteen to sixteen 

 days, but experiments have elicited the fact that the eggs of this 

 bird placed in an incubator did not hatch until the twenty-third day. 

 The parent birds adopt the usual alluring antics when their eggs 

 and young are threatened. As soon as the latter are safely 

 reared a movement to the coasts is made. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Totanus, with the lower back and 

 rump white, and the secondaries white, marbled with brown at 

 the very base. Length, 10 to 11 inches. 



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