i6o British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



summer is now flecked with dark spots; under parts dusky white, with rather 

 duskier shaft-stripes, which are linear on the throat and neck; axillaries white; 

 legs clear j^ellow, with but little orange in it. 



Young in autumn {$ S 9 9 , etc., Yorkshire coast, September and October) have 

 rmny saw-tooth spots of rusty buff on the back, scapulars and tertiaries, and of 

 rusty white on the wing-coverts ; under parts dusky (whiter on the throat and 

 belly), spotted and striped with grey-brown ; legs dirty yellow. Length gf inches, 

 wing 5|. 



The nestling is ruddy buff above, pale buff below ; a black streak through 

 the ej'es, one on either side of, and one through the centre of the crown; three 

 irregular black stripes (the centre one spinal) down the back; feet dirty yellow. 



The nest is usually artfully concealed in the centre of a tuft of rushes, or 

 coarse grass, on the top of a tussock in a wet marsh, or river-meadow; several 

 pairs generall}' nest within a short distance of one another. Fresh eggs are to be 

 found between mid- April and the end of IMay, but the nest in Lapland, mentioned 

 above (eggs slightly incubated), was found on June 26th, so allowance must be 

 made, as with most other birds, for latitude. On August loth, 1894, some mowers 

 shewed me a Redshank's nest, containing four incubated eggs, which they had 

 just laid bare in a meadow in Lower Rej-kjadalr, in North Iceland; but the usual 

 egg-season for this bird in Iceland is mid-June. The eggs are light stone-buff in 

 ground colour, blotched with light neutral-tint and spotted with dark sepia. Some 

 are finely, some boldl}' spotted, and their length is nearl}^ if inches, with a breadth 

 of about ij. There is but little lining to the nest, only a little fine grass. I 

 suspect that both sexes incubate equall}-, but I have only shot one bird off eggs, 

 the female described above. The parents are both in attendance upon the young 

 birds, and are very clamorous and tiresome, as they will follow, for a long distance, 

 every human being they see, and alarm the whole neighbourhood. 



The Redshank is easilj' recognized by its familiar note " tin- too- too " (I give 

 this clumsy formula for what it, or any other attempt at writing a bird's note, 

 may be worth, which is not much). On the wing the broad white bar across the 

 wing, formed by the white secondaries, and, at close range, the bright orange- 

 yellow legs, make it a conspicuous and handsome inhabitant of our shores, marshes, 

 and river-meadows. Though wary and wild, it is a very easy bird to call and 

 shoot, especially in the case of the young in autiimn, but it is not worth shooting, 

 except by those ^^ho want specimens, as it is worthless for table purposes. At 

 the risk of appearing tiresome, I cannot but enter another protest against the 

 thoughtless crueltj', or lust for killing, of many Englishmen. A good deal of 

 recognized sport is nothing else but a thirst for slaughter; the keepers are the 



