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mud, and often wades into the shallow pools in search of food. Colonel Irby writes (Ibis, 1861, 

 p. 239), the present species "has a curious way of feeding, which I often noticed: a flock of 

 perhaps thirty or forty will form a sort of oblique line, each one a little in rear of the other, and 

 advance across a shallow jheel, all with their heads down half under the water, moving them 

 from right to left with great rapidity. The noise they make in the water is plainly audible." 

 This peculiarity in the Eedshank I have never myself noticed, though I have often seen Avocets 

 feeding in the manner described by Colonel Irby. 



When on the wing the Eedshank is easily recognizable from other allied species by the 

 broad white band on its wings, which is very distinctly displayed. It breeds both in marshy 

 localities on the coast, and also in suitable localities in the interior. In Finland, where I have 

 most frequently found the eggs of this species, it breeds altogether on the coast, and I usually 

 found the nests at a very short distance from the water, on the small islands which fringe the 

 coast. These islands are covered with grass in patches ; and usually the nest was amongst the 

 grass, either in a bunch of grass carefully concealed, or else in a tolerably open situation. The 

 nest is nothing but a depression in the soil in which a few bits of grass are placed, these latter 

 being a mere apology for a lining ; and I always found the full complement of eggs to be four, 

 whicb, like the eggs of other waders, are always arranged with the points towards the centre. 

 Mr. Vincent Legge, who found it breeding in tolerable numbers in the south-eastern part of 

 Kent, writes (Ibis, 1866, p. 420) as follows: — "The nests are most cleverly concealed, being 

 situated in the centre of a green tuft of grass, the blades of which are carefully bent over the 

 top, and the openings, by which the bird enters and leaves the nest, closed up on her being 

 frightened from it. A few tracks in the surrounding grass are the sole traces of the existence 

 of the nest." In Scotland it appears to breed more frequently in the interior than on the coast. 

 Mr. Robert Gray says that it breeds within ten miles of Glasgow ; and he further writes, 

 " on the banks of Loch Lomond about fifteen or twenty pairs annually take up their summer 

 quarters in a grass park on the farm of Mid-Ross, where I have seen their nests. In this 

 locality the birds generally select a tuft of ragweed, or other plant, under the shade of which 

 the eggs are deposited without much preparation in the way of nest-making — the few straws on 

 which they are placed looking more like an accidental lining than one designed by the owners. 

 These nests are exceedingly difficult to find. In very dry seasons, when the loch is low, the 

 Redshanks sometimes choose the line of high-water mark for a breeding-place, the nests, if they 

 may be called so, being placed on the mass of sticks and straws which are blown on shore by the 

 wind, and huddled together by the action of the little waves." 



I possess a fair series of Redshanks' eggs, chiefly taken by myself on the coast of Finland, 

 where it is common during the breeding-season. In colour these eggs are clay-buff, marked 

 with purplish brown underlying shell-blotches, and dark brown surface-spots and blotches. 

 Some are marked all over the surface of the shell with small spots, whereas others have only 

 a few large blotches, and others, again, are tolerably closely covered with large blotches and 

 small spots intermixed. In size they vary from Iff by l^y to Iff by l^j inch. 



In the neighbourhood of its nest, when its domain is invaded by intruders, the Redshank 

 appears to forget its usual caution in intense anxiety for the safety of its progeny. It will fly to 

 meet the intruder, using every endeavour to lure him away, and when the nest is approached 



