Variations. 



350 



TOTANUS. 



Brerm splits the Greenshank into three species, but modern ornithologists are ignorant of 

 even a local race of this bird. 



Synonymy. 



Literature. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Scolopax glottis, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 146 (1758); Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 245 (1766). 



Limosa grisea, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 267 (1760). 



Scolopax nebularius, Gunner, Leem. Lapp. Beschr. p. 251 (1767). 



Scolopax cineracea, Latham, Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 292 (1787). 



Scolopax canescens, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 688 (1788) . 



Totanus glottis (Linn.), Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 287 (1803). 



Totanus fistulans, -\ 



m , . ,„■ s > Bechstein, Nature/. Deutschl. iv. pp. 241, 249 (1809). 



Totanus griseus (Briss.), J 1 



Totanus chloropus, Meyer, Taschenb. ii. p. 371 (1810). 



Glottis natans, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 305 (1816, nee Otto, 1797). 



Limicula glottis (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. &;c. Brit. Mus. p. 32 (1816). 



Glottis chloropus (Meyer), Nilsson, Orn. Suecica, ii. p. 57 (1821). 



Limosa totanus (Linn.), apud Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. ii. p. 183 (1826J. 



Glottis nivigula, Hodgson, Gray's Zool. Miscell. ii. p. 36 (1831). 



Totanus glottoides, Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 173. 



Limosa glottoides (Vigors),--. „ , _ „ . „ lno „ ,_„ 

 m , \ j )> ISi/kes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p. 163. 



Totanus norsfieldn, J 



Glottis floridanus, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer.ip. 51 (1838). 



Glottis canescens (Gmel.),-\ 



Glottis vigorsii, > Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 99 (1844). 



Glottis horsfieldii (Sykes),J 



Glottis glottis (Linn.), Lichtenstein, Nom. Av. Mus. Berol. p. 91 (1854). 



Totanus canescens (Gmel.), Adams, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 169. 



Totanus nebularius (Gunn.), Stejneger, Proc. U. States Nat. Mus. 1882, p. 37. 



Plates. — Gould, Birds of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 53 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, viii. pi. 570. 

 Habits. — Seebohnij British Birds, iii. p. 149. 

 Eggs.— Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 29. figs. 1, 3, 4. 



The Greenshank has a white lower bach and nearly uniform grey secondaries. Two 

 other species of the genus possess both these characters, the Marsh-Sandpiper (T. staynatilis) 

 and Erman's Sandpiper [T. guttiferus). The former is most easily distinguished by its 

 small size, having a wing about 5| inches long, whilst the Greenshank has a wing about 

 seven inches long. The latter has shorter tarsi, under instead of over two inches, but is 

 most readily distinguished by the great development of the webs at the base of both sides 

 of the middle toe. In the Greenshank the web is obsolete between the middle and inner toes. 

 It is difficult to say to which of these two species the Greenshank is most closely allied. 



The Greenshank has not been recorded from Greenland, Iceland, or the Faroes ; but 

 it is a regular summer visitor to the Highlands of Scotland and the fells of Norway, 



