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this colour." He has also obtained it in Formosa. Dr. Jerdon writes : — " The Greenshank is 

 to be seen in every part of India, usually alone, now and then in small parties. It chiefly 

 frequents the edges of rivers, tanks, or pools, but is now and then put up from an inundated rice- 

 field, or low swamp. It rises with a loud shrill cry, which the native name (Timtimma) attempts 

 to imitate. It is excellent eating ; as Pallas remarked, ' sapidissima avis in patina.' It reaches 

 this country towards the middle or end of September, and leaves for the north in April." Major 

 Irby, writing on the birds observed by him in Oudh and Kumaon, remarks as follows : — " Seen 

 singly and in flocks of up to thirty in number ; is most numerous during the cold season ; but is 

 occasionally seen during every month throughout the year." Captain Bulger procured it at 

 Rabat, in Sikkim, and Hodgson in Nepaul : it is also known to occur in Ceylon and the Nicobars. 

 The Greenshank also seems to be met with all over the Malayan region, specimens being in the 

 Leiden Museum from the Philippines, Borneo, Java, Timor, Gilolo, and Celebes. Mr. Gould 

 writes : " Although nowhere very abundant, it is so generally dispersed over Australia that I 

 have seen specimens from every settlement in that vast portion of the globe ; but, although its 

 distribution is so general, its presence is not, I believe, to be depended upon in any given 

 locality ; it is, in fact, a chance but not unfrequent visitor to all. A more elegant bird on the 

 sands can scarcely be imagined ; and it is as graceful in all its actions as it is in form, tripping 

 over the beach with a lightness and ease peculiar to itself. It sometimes leaves the sea-side for 

 estuaries and inland lakes ; but these localities are not so favourable to its habits as sandy points 

 and spits of land on the sea-shore, where it is frequently seen in company with the Whimbrel, 

 Curlew, and Oyster-catcher. It is sometimes seen in small flocks, of from seven to ten in 

 number, but more frequently in pairs." Herr von Pelzeln records it also from Norfolk Island. 



Having traced the range of the Greenshank in a south-easterly direction, it remains to 

 examine the habitat of the bird in South-eastern Europe and Africa. By Canon Tristram it was 

 observed in Palestine. Captain Shelley also states that he found it abundantly throughout 

 Egypt and Nubia ; and Mr. Clark Kennedy sends us the following note : — " I met with this bird 

 on the Nile from Cairo up to Edfou, but south of that town to the first cataract it entirely disap- 

 peared ; and though often observed on the banks of the river and flying up and down muddy 

 ditches, it was always to be seen either in pairs or very small companies, and certainly could not 

 be called a numerous species. It might sometimes be found feeding and associating with Curlews 

 and other waders, especially the ' Zic-zac,' or Spur-winged Plover, but it was always fully as shy 

 a bird as it is in this country. In March 1870 I saw one pair on the Suez Canal." Dr. von 

 Heuglin says it is found in winter on the Red Sea and the Somali coast, not in summer, and he 

 also met with it in Kordofan. Mr. C. W. Wyatt obtained specimens on the marshes near Tor, in 

 the Peninsula of Sinai. Captain Sperling met with it at Zanzibar and Mosambique, in the latter 

 of which countries it was also obtained by Professor Peters. Mr. Ayres sends the following note 

 from Natal : — " These birds are very shy, and are mostly gregarious, but sometimes solitary. They 

 generally feed and intermix with the Curlews, frequently walking into the water till it reaches 

 their bodies. The specimens sent seemed to have the remains of shrimps in their stomach." Mr. 

 Edward Newton has seen it in the Seychelles. Mr. Layard says that in the Cape Colony it is 

 " common along with the Green Sandpiper, and found also on all vleys throughout the country.' 

 It has been met with from Gaboon to Senegambia on the west coast, having been likewise pro- 



