270 THE COMMON REDSHANK 



of the coast where it can have access to muddy marshes. It does 

 not, indeed, confine itself to such places, for it is not unfrequently 

 to be seen on the seashore, feeding in the neighbourhood of Dunlins, 

 Knots, Grey Plovers, and other Waders ; or, when its favourite 

 haunts are covered by the tide, a solitary bird or a party of three 

 or four meet or overtake the stroUer by the seaside, taking care 

 to keep at a respectful distance from him, either by flying high over 

 his head or sweeping along, a few feet above the surface of the sea, 

 in the line of the breakers or in the trough outside them. They 

 may easily be distinguished from any other common bird of the 

 same tribe by the predominance of white in their plumage, Other 

 Waders, such as Dunlins and Sanderlings, present the dark and light 

 sides of their plumage alternately, but the Redshank shows its dark 

 and white feathers simultaneously, and if seen only on the wing 

 might be supposed to be striped with black and white. Keen-sighted 

 observers can also detect its red legs. Its flight, as accurately 

 described by Macgillivray, ' is light, rapid, wavering, and as if 

 undecided, and, being performed by quick jerks of the wings, 

 bears some resemblance to that of a Pigeon'. During its flight it 

 frequently utters its cry, which is a wild shrUl whistle of two or three 

 notes, approaching that of the Ringed Plover, but louder and less 

 mellow. At low water, it frequents, in preference to aU other places 

 of resort, flat marshes which are intersected by muddy creeks, and 

 in these it bores for food. It is very wary, flying off long before 

 the fowler can come within shot if it happens to be standing 

 exposed ; and even if it be concealed under a high bank, where it 

 can neither see nor be seen, it detects his approach by some means, 

 and in most cases is up and away before any but the most expert 

 shot can stop its flight. On these occasions it invariably utters 

 its alarm note, which both proclaims its own escape and gives warn- 

 ing to all other birds feeding in the vicinity. Scattered individuals 

 thus disturbed sometimes unite into flocks, or fly off, stfll keeping 

 separate, to some distant part of the marsh. On one occasion only 

 have I been enabled to approach near enough to a Redshank 

 to watch its peculiar movements while feeding, and this observation 

 I was much pleased in making, as it confirms the account of another 

 observer. A writer in the Naturalist, quoted by YarreU and Mac- 

 gillivray, says : ' I was very much struck with the curious manner 

 in which they dart their bill into the sand nearly its whole length, 

 by jumping up and thus giving it a sort of impetus, if I may use 

 the word, by the weight of their bodies pressing it downwards.' 

 This account Macgillivray, with an unamiable sneer too common in 

 his writings when he refers to statements made by others of facts 

 which have not fallen within his own observation, considers to be 

 so inaccurate that he pronounces the birds to be not Redshanks 

 at all, and calls them ' Irish Redshanks'. On the occasion to which 

 I have referred, I saw at a distance a largish bird feeding on a bank 



