96 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



of Hewitson's ' Eggs of British Birds,' so that it 

 is unnecessary that I shoukl here copy or borrow 

 from it. I presume that the food of this species is 

 of the same character as that of others of the family 

 of waders to which it belongs : in the case of a 

 specimen shot by me near Larnaca in the spring 

 of 1875, the stomach contained many small shells 

 and a considerable quantity of insect-matter reduced 

 to pulp. The flesh of this bird, though, to my taste, 

 rather more palatable than that of the Common 

 Redshank, has generally an unpleasant flavour of 

 mud. 



159. GREENSHANK. 



Totanus glottis. 



I can only record one instance of having myself 

 seen a Greenshank in our county ; this occurred on 

 October 21st, 1875, on the morning of which day a 

 solitary bird of this species flew over my head at 

 a considerable height whilst I was partridge-shooting 

 with a party on the Duke of Buccleuch's property 

 not far from Barnwell Station, L. N. W. Railway. 

 The bird was too far off" for certain identification by 

 sight, and I very probably might not have noticed it, 

 had it not been for its remarkable loud double 

 whistle with which I had become well acquainted in 

 Spain. Mr. A. G. Elliot, formerly of Stamford, 

 assured me that a Greenshank was killed by a 

 Mr, Julian at Blackmore Thick on May 20th, 1874, 

 and preserved for that gentleman by him, and I have 

 notices of occurrences of this bird in various localities 

 on the lower course of the Nen and the Welland 



