624 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Measurements and structure. — $ wing 191-198 mm., tail 72-78, 

 tarsus 60-63, bill from feathers 53-57 (12 measured). ? wing 184- 

 206, bill 53-61. Primaries : 1st minute, 2nd longest, 3rd 2.5-5 mm. 

 shorter, 4th 9-14 shorter, 5th 19-24 shorter, 6th 30-38 shorter. 

 Longest innermost secondary between 5th and 6th primaries. 

 Other structure as in T. flavipes. 



Soft parts. — Bill black, base olive-green, legs and feet orange ; 

 iris brown. 



Characters. — No subspecies. Most likely to be confused with 

 T. -flavipes. 



Field -characters. — A counterpart of Yellowshank, one -third 

 larger. Relatively longer bill is only reliable field -mark except for 

 notes. These are usually distinguishable, louder, clearer, higher- 

 pitched, more ringing and modulated whistles. They are usually 

 two, three or more syllabled, " wheu-wheu," " wheu wheu wheu 

 wheu," whereas corresponding call of Yellowshank is rarely more 

 than two syllables. Less gregarious than Yellowshank, wilder, 

 more restless, and noisy. When alighted, more given to plover -like 

 bobbing of head and neck. Feeds entirely by snatching, never 

 probing. (J. T. Nichols.) 



Breeding-habits. — Very little on record. Nest. — Depression in 

 ground not far from water and with trees in immediate neighbour- 

 hood from which parents keep watch. Eggs. — 4, pyriform, boldly 

 blotched with brown and ashy-grey on pale ochreous ground but 

 exact measurements not available and details of incubation, etc., 

 lacking. 



Food. — Insects and their larvae, worms and fry of fish recorded 

 (minnow and fry of Sicydium). 



Distribution. — England. — Two. Tresco, Scilly Isles, Sept. 16, 

 1906 (ut supra). Winchelsea (Sussex) Oct. 4, 1915 (H. W. Ford- 

 Lindsay, Brit. B., ix, p. 213). [One said to have been shot in 

 Warwickshire, Nov. 22, 1907, cf. Brit. B., iv, p. 109.] 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Breeds in northern N. America from 

 Lake Iliamna, Alaska, and south Mackenzie to south British Colum- 

 bia, Ungava, Labrador, Newfoundland, islands in Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence ; winters from south California, Texas, Louisiana, and 

 Georgia (casually north Carolina) south to Patagonia ; in Bermudas 

 on migration. 



TRINGA TOTANUS 



412. Tringa totanus totanus (L.)— THE COMMON REDSHANK. 



Scolopax Totanus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 145 (1758 — Europe. 



Restricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Totanus calidris (Linnaeus), Yarrell, in, p. 469 ; Saunders, p. 615. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter. — Crown, nape, 

 mantle and scapulars dark ash-brown, feathers with light greyish- 

 olive or faint white tips mostly with sepia shafts, lower scapulars 



