REDSHANK 
275 
the Golden Plover ; but in length of beak and 
legs, and its general attitudes when upon the 
ground, it clearly shows itself to belong to the Sand- 
piper branch of this wading and mud-haunting 
family. In the breeding season it is mostly warm 
mottled brown on the upper parts, and white, a 
good deal speckled with greyish-brown, beneath ; 
the tail is barred black and white, and the wings 
in flight are also barred ;Very conspicuously with 
white. The hen bird is a trifle larger than the 
cock. The legs are bright red. In winter the 
upper parts are greyish-brown, with a white patch 
above the tail, and the under parts silvery white, 
a little clouded with grey. The Redshank breeds 
in April or May, the scanty nest of dry grass and 
stems being generally hidden in a tussock, but 
sometimes completely uncovered. The four eggs 
are much like a Plover's, but generally rather 
smaller, and even more pointed in shape ; the 
ground-colour is a brownish-yellow, paler, and less 
green than that of the ordinary Plover's egg, 
and the sepia-brown spots are smaller, rounder, and 
less jagged. The Redshank is one of the noisiest 
and most anxious of birds when danger seems to 
threaten its eggs or young ; the alarmed pairs 
fly close overhead with a continual shrill cry, and 
swoop downward as if threatening an actual 
attack. 
T 2 
