THE LITTLE GREENSHANK. 
403 
744. TOTANUS STAGNATILIS. 
THE LITTLE GREENSHANK. 
Totanus stagnatilis, Bechst. Orn. Taschenh. ii. p. 292 ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 701 ; 
Dresser, Birds Eur. viii. p. 151, pi. ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 328; Bl. B. Burm. 
p. 155 ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 183; Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 348 ; David et Oust. 
Ois. Chine, p. 463 ; Hume ^' Dav. S. F. yi. p. 463 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 113 ; 
Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 844; Oates, S. F. x. p. 241. 
Description. — Winter plumage. Foreliead^, loi'es_, cheeks and the whole 
lower phimage with the axillaries and under wing-coverts pure white ; the 
sides of the neck and of the breast with a few narrow brown streaks ; crown_, 
nape and hind neck greyish brown^ narrowly streaked with blackish and 
white; back and scapulars with black shafts and narrowly edged with 
white ; lesser wing-coverts very dark brown ; median and greater coverts 
greyish brown edged with white ; tertiaries with interrupted black bars or 
spots on the outer webs ; primaries brown^ the later ones narrowly edged 
with white on the inner webs and at the tips ; secondaries brown margined 
with white and with a good deal of the inner webs white ; lower back and 
rump pure white; upper tail-coverts v/hite with arrowhead- shaped brown 
bars ; tail white,, with irregular^ more or less diagonally disposed brown 
bars. 
In summer the feathers of the upper plumage become blotched with 
black; and the forehead^ sides of the head and neck^ the whole throat and 
breast become covered with roundish black marks. 
Bill black_, olive-brown at base ; iris brown ; legs yellowish brown with 
an olive tinge ; claws dark brown. 
Length 10 inches^ tail 2*4^ wing S'G^ tarsus 2"1, bill from gape 1*75. 
The female is of about the same size. 
The Little Greenshank is abundant in Pegu during the winter, but not 
so much so as the preceding species. Mr. Davison states that it is rare in 
Tenasserim^ and Mr. Blyth records it from Arrakan. 
It inhabits Eastern and South-eastern Europe, and it has been found 
over the greater part of Africa. It occurs throughout Central and 
Southern Asia, not going far north ; it extends in a south-easterly direction 
to the Malay archipelago, having been found in Java and Borneo, and it 
ranges to Australia. It has been found breeding in Hungary and in 
Turkestan. 
This Greenshank is found in small flocks of from four to ten individuals 
on the mud-banks of the larger rivers, and also on the edges of marshes 
and ponds. 
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