CHARADRIIDAE 283 



Here may be mentioned Aechmorhynchus cancellatus (par- 

 virostris), of Christmas and Paumotu Islands in the Pacific, which is 

 rufous-brown with white under surface mostly barred with brown ; 

 and Prosohonia leucopiera, Latham's White- winged Sandpiper, from 

 Tahiti and Eimeo, with brown head and mantle, chestnut rump 

 and lower parts, white wing-patch and superciliary streak — species 

 of doubtful affinity, which are both presumably extinct. 



The large genus Totanus is more'inland in its haunts during the 

 breeding season than Tringa. T. calidris, the Eedshank, is resident 

 in Britain, and ranges through Europe, the Mediterranean, and 

 Asia south of lat. 60° X., migrating to South Africa, the Indian 

 Eegion, and Japan. The upper parts are light brown with darker 

 bars and streaks, the primaries being black ; the rump, second- 

 aries, tail, and lower surface are white, but the two latter are 

 barred with blackish and flecked with brown respectively ; the 

 feet are orange-red, or yellowish in the young. In winter the 

 colour is ashy-grey, with nearly white under parts. This bird breeds 

 in salt marshes or swamps, not uncommonly far inland, and deposits 

 four buff eggs with reddish or purplish -brown spots in grass or rush- 

 tufts, making little or no nest, but drawing the herbage together 

 over the spot to conceal it. Both parents usually rise a long 

 way ahead of the intruder, and fly wildly round, uttering their 

 shrill whistling cry of " pitotoi." Eedshanks are especially wary 

 on the coast in winter, and, like Curlews or Lapwings, are the bane 

 of the shooter ; they can swim and dive, and not uncommonly 

 perch on trees ; the food, procm'ed on sandy spots or sea- weed- 

 covered rocks, consists of molluscs, crustaceans, worms, and aquatic 

 insects. T.fiiscus, the Dusky or Spotted Eedshank, a scarce visitor 

 to our shores, breeds in Europe and Asia, chiefly north of the Arctic 

 Circle, and has a similar winter range to its congener. It generally 

 nests in forest-clearings some way from water, and lays fine greenish 

 eggs, blotched with varied browns. The female sits very closely. 

 Less noisy than its kindred, unless accompanied by young, it flies 

 comparatively strongly, perches on trees, and recalls the Greenshank 

 by its habits. The plumage is black, with white spots above, 

 white rump and barred tail ; in winter it resembles that of the 

 Eedshank, and the crimson legs become orange-red. T. fiavipes, 

 the Yellowshank, which has wandered to England, inhabits the 

 colder parts of North America, and migrates as far as Patagonia ; 

 it is black, grey-brown, and white above, and white with dusky 



