169 



Sperling speaks of it as being commoner than the Greenshank at Missolonghi • and Colonel 

 Drummond-Hay speaks of it as being rare at Corfu. In Southern Russia, according to Professor 

 von Nordmann, it appears regularly in the spring and autumn, but does not winter on any part 

 of the north coast of the Black Sea, though both there and on the Caspian it is numerous during 

 passage ; but in the Uman district, in Southern Russia, it appears to be rare, as Mr. Goebel 

 speaks only of having shot one in September 1867 and a pair in August 1869. I do not find it 

 recorded from Asia Minor ; nor does Canon Tristram refer to it as occurring in Palestine ; but it 

 is met with in North-east Africa, and, according to Captain Shelley (B. of Egypt, p. 255), " ranges 

 throughout Egypt and Nubia, but appears to be rather sparingly distributed ; for we only met 

 with it on one occasion, near Sakkara, on the 7th of April, where we killed several birds out of 

 a large flock that had been feeding in a small muddy pool." Von Heuglin believes that he saw 

 it at Ras Belul, on the Somali coast; but it appears, on the whole, to be of somewhat rare 

 occurrence in North-east Africa. On the western side it is said by Loche to occur rarely during 

 passage in Algeria; but Mr. Taczanowski says (J. f. O. 1870, p. 53) that he found it common 

 about Fezzara. Colonel Irby writes that in Favier's notes it is said to " frequent the vicinity of 

 salt marshes near Tangier during the months of September and October." It is found as far 

 down as South Africa, though not recorded, so far as I can ascertain, from the intervening 

 districts on the west coast. Mr. E. L. Layard, however, who records it from the Cape colony, 

 only obtained a single specimen at the Knysna. 



To the eastward it is met with right across the continent of Asia to Kamtschatka. Mr. 

 Blanford did not meet with it in Persia, where, he says, it doubtless occurs. Mr. A. O. Hume 

 says (Stray Feathers, i. p. 248) that it is almost as common as the Greenshank in the rivers of 

 the Punjab, and numerous enough in Sindh, especially about the larger lakes, where he occa- 

 sionally met with it in vast flocks. Dr. Jerdon states (B. of India, ii. p. 702) that it is " found 

 throughout India in the cold season, either solitary or in moderate parties ;" and Colonel Irby 

 writes (Ibis, 1861, p. 239) that it is "frequently seen in small flocks during the cold season, but 

 was not noticed in summer plumage." Mr. Layard states that it is common in Ceylon; but 

 Mr. Holdsworth did not meet with it there. Severtzoff writes (Turk. Jevotnie, p. 69) that it 

 occurs in North-western Turkestan, where it is met with both during the breeding-season and 

 also on passage ; and it appears to occur throughout Northern Siberia. Middendorff writes that 

 it breeds not very uncommonly on the Boganida, where he observed it up to the 25th August 

 (old style) ; and Dr. G. Radde obtained a single specimen (a young female) at the Tarei-nor, in 

 September 1856. He never obtained it in spring or summer, and adds that it was extremely 

 rare in the autumn. Von Schrenck appears not to have met with it ; but Dr. Dybowski states 

 (J. f. O. 1868, p. 337) that it occurs at Darasun during passage. Steller records it from Kam- 

 tschatka ; and, according to Messrs. Finsch and Hartlaub, it has also been recorded from the 

 islands between Kamtschatka and America. Pere David says that it occurs on passage, but is 

 rarer than Totanus calidris, in Mongolia; and Mr. Swinhoe records it (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 406) from 

 Canton, Tientsin, and Shanghai. 



In its habits the present species assimilates tolerably closely with the common Redshank, 

 from which, in all stages of plumage, it is easily distinguishable by not having the short 

 secondaries white. It is, however, by far not so much a frequenter of the sea-coast as that bird, 



