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and picking at the tops of the grass-bents, sometimes flying up and catching at something, taking 

 a short flight with extended wings, and again settling. At this time countless myriads of Phyllo- 

 pertha horticola filled the air above all the edges of the inner dunes, and quantities of Black- 

 headed Gulls were busy catching them. On examining the places where I had observed the 

 Greenshanks, I noticed quantities of Cneorhinus geminatus on all the grass-stems." 



Herr Ludwig Holtz observed the Greenshank breeding on Gottland ; and we translate his 

 notes as follows : — " I found the nest on the 20th of May, situated where I should never have 

 expected to see it, in a place overgrown with scattered Fir-trees (Pinus sylvestris), from ten to 

 twenty feet high. The limestone had formed small hillocks, which were covered here and there 

 with moss, weeds, and straggling plants of Calluna vulgaris. On one of these hillocks, between 

 two pieces of limestone, I found the nest, which was a mere indentation in the bare ground, with 

 some spines of the Pine for a foundation ; and on these were heaped a few twigs and leaves ; here 

 the four eggs lay, with their points turned inwards. The eggs contained small embryos." Mr. 

 Meves writes : — " A nest from Kyrro consists of a lump of reindeer- and other moss, mixed with 

 leaves of willow and stagberry bushes. The eggs are four in number." 



To our friend Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown we are indebted for the following account of its 

 breeding in Scotland : — 



" In Sutherlandshire we have had most opportunities of observing the habits of this species 

 during the nesting-season. The cry of the Greenshank, from which, in that country, one of its 

 local names ("Teochvingh") is derived, somewhat resembles that of the Bedshank (Totanus cali- 

 dris), but is clearer, louder, and more slowly uttered. Even around their breeding-haunts the 

 Greenshank is a shy, wary bird ; and the nest, in consequence, is generally extremely difficult to 

 find. The male bird is even wilder than the female, and if once fired at ineffectually will not 

 come near enough again that day ; and this remark applies even when the birds have hatched 

 their young. 



"When flying overhead or at some distance from the ground the cry is slow and clear; but 

 when the bird is in the act of alighting, with the wings raised above its head, it repeats the notes 

 with greater rapidity, much in the same way as the Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) may 

 be observed to do soon after its arrival in spring. The flight is rapid, sustained by strong, regular 

 beats of the wings, which apparently are made to keep time with each syllable of the note. 



" The Greenshank, according to our experience in Sutherlandshire, begins to lay about the 

 10th May, though other observers in other countries consider it amongst the earliest breeders of 

 the Grallatores. We have in our collection one nest of eggs taken on the above-mentioned date ; 

 but of many others we have seen or received very few have been obtained so early. The nest is 

 simply a depression in a dry tuft of grass in the middle or by the side of marshy ground, or by a 

 loch-side, sparingly lined with dry wiry grass." 



Naumann gives the following account of its food : — " Feeds on water-insects, both larvae and 

 also the perfect insect. It hunts the larvae up out of the mud, and runs after the more active 

 insects of the genus Harpalus along the shore, and catches the smaller ones of the genus Dytiscus 

 in shallow water, and picks, apparently with great zest, the shining Gyrinus off the surface of the 

 water." He also states that he has observed it " on meadows a short distance from the water, where 

 cattle had been grazing, catching small beetles, such as Aphrodius inquinatus, A. conspurcatus, 



