REDSHANK. 
TOTANUS CALIDRIS. 
The Redshank is a summer resident in many parts of tlie country, as well as a visitor in spring and autumn to 
almost every mudflat or estuary round our coasts : small parties or large flocks may also occasionally be met 
with in winter on any of the salt-water flats ; at this season, however, their appearance is uncertain. I cannot 
call to mind a single instance of having seen this species inland during the depth of winter. 
In England I have found the Redshank breeding only in Norfolk and Suffolk, though there are doubtless 
many other counties to which these noisy birds resort during the summer. In Perthshire the species is 
abundant in the valley of the Tay and several of its tributaries ; and there is scarcely a strath or glen in the 
northern counties of the Highlands that does not contain a flat or two where a few pairs or even a colony take 
up their summer quarters. 
Early in autumn immense flights make their appearance on the flats along the sea-shore. The birds 
evidently prefer localities where an extensive stretch of mud, sand, or low reef of rocks allows them to rest 
unmolested after feeding. Near Morangie, on the Dornoch Eirth, I have frequently noticed large flocks of from 
two to four hundred, and occasionally double that number, alighting on the floating seaw'eed : at times a 
patch of weed from fifty to one hundred yards in length w ould be completely covered by the living mass ; a 
strange and striking sight is then presented by the long line of Waders as they rise and fall with the undulating 
motion of the waves. I have often watched the Redlegs * betake themselves to such stations W'hen they were 
flooded off the sands just before high tide. Passing them occasionally in the gunning-punt, at a distance 
of forty or fifty yards, they would take but little notice, one or two rising from time to time, and a few 
spreading their wings to steady themselves as a w^ave broke up and ruffled the surface of the water. On 
their first arrival on the coast, Redlegs are remarkably fearless, though if constantly harassed they soon 
become wild, when few birds cause more annoyance to the gunners, their warning cry putting all Wildfowl and 
Waders on the alert. The note of this species may be heard at all hours of the niglit, a solitary whistle from 
the mudflats occasionally breaking the silence, and a general outcry bursting forth as a flock takes wing, either 
flooded off their standing-ground by the tide, or alarmed by the passing craft of a gunner or fisherman. 
Redshanks usually return to their breeding-haunts on the Norfolk marshes early in March : the 3rd is the 
earliest date on which I have noted a pair or two showing themselves in the vicinity of their summer 
quarters. The marshmen usually look upon the return of the Redleg as one of the first signs of spring. In 
several of the Highland glens I remarked the birds were seldom seen till a month or five wrecks later; but 
when once they make their appearance, nesting-operations are speedily commenced. The date at which 
eggs are kid varies with the season. In the broad-district in the east of Norfolk, I noticed in 1883 that 
the majority of the birds had their full complement of eggs by about the 22nd of April ; the weather at the 
time was cold with cutting east winds, and it is probable they were a few days later than usual. The Redle^^ 
Among the gunners on the east coast, this species is usually known as the llcdleg. 
