SC0L0PACID2E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — TOTANUS. 
269 
approach quite near, making a rapid swoop at the head of the intruder. If fired at 
and missed, it rarely ventures again within range. Mr. Selby obtained one of the 
young, about a fortnight old, b} r the aid of a water-dog. 
This bird was observed by Hewitson in Norway, where, to his surprise, it was 
more than once seen seated high above his head, on the top of a tall tree. It 
breeds as far north as the Arctic Circle, in Lapland. Its note is said to sound like 
chio-chio. Mr. John Wolley obtained several nests and eggs of this bird in Finland. 
It feeds on small fish, worms, insects, Crustacea, and molluscous animals. It visits 
Russia and breeds in the more northern regions of that country, has been found on 
the banks of the Rhine, and is a bird of passage in France, Germany, Switzerland, 
Italy, the islands in the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, etc. 
Mr. Macgillivray states that the Greenshank is seen in the Outer Hebrides early 
in spring, and that it generally departs in October, a few individuals remaining into 
November. Previous to the breeding-season, and after the young are fledged, it 
resorts to the shores of the sea, and frequents pools of brackish water and the shal- 
low margins of bays and creeks. It is said to be extremely shy and vigilant, so much 
so that it can seldom be shot, until after it has deposited its eggs. Many remain 
in the Hebrides in the summer, and at that season are very easily discovered, as, at 
the approach of an intruder, even when he is more than a quarter of a mile distant, 
they rise into the air with clamorous cries, alarming all the birds in their neighbor- 
hood, fly round the place of their nests, now wheeling off to a distance, again advancing 
toward the intruder ; then, at intervals, they alight by the edge of the lake, continuing 
the noise and vibrating their bodies without cessation. Mr. Macgillivray found a nest 
in one of the Hebrides at a considerable distance from the water ; this consisted of 
a few fragments of heath and some blades of grass placed in a hollow cavity scraped 
in the turf in an exposed place, and resembled the nest of the Golden Plover, the 
Common Curlew, and the Lapwing. The eggs, which were placed with their nar- 
row ends together, were four in number, pyriform, larger than those of the Lapwing 
and smaller than those of the Golden Plover, equally pointed with the latter, but 
proportionally broader and more rounded at the larger end than either. The dimen- 
sion of one was 2.00 inches in length by 1.38 in breadth. The ground-color was a pale 
yellowish green, sprinkled all over with irregular spots of dark brown, intermixed 
with blotches of light purplish gray, the spots and blotches more numerous on the 
larger end. Mr. Macgillivray adds, that although these birds may be seen in summer 
in many parts of the islands, they are yet very rare, pairs being to be met with only at 
a distance of several miles from each other. This bird is of very rare occurrence in 
Scotland, except in the Hebrides, making its appearance chiefly in autumn. 
Totanus melanoleucus. 
TELL-TALE; STONE SNIPE. 
Scolopax melanoleuca,, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 659. 
Tetanus melanoleucus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. VI, 1816, 398. — Atm. Ora. Biog. IV. 1838, 68, pi. 308. 
— Coues, Key, 1872, 258; Check List, 1873, no. 432 ; 2d ed. 1882, no. 633 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 
496. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 548. 
Gambetta melanoleuca, Bo nap. Compt. Rend. 1856, 597. — Cass, in Baird’s B. N. Am. 1858, 731. — 
Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. no. 539. 
Scolopax vociferus, Wins. Am. Orn. VII. 1813, 57, pi. 58, fig. 5. 
Totanus vociferus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. VI. 1816, 401. — Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. II. 1831, 389.— 
Aud. Synop. 1839, 244; B. Am. V. 1842, 316, pi. 345. 
Totanus sasashew, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. VI. 1816, 412. 
Totanus chilensis, Philippi, Wiegm. Archiv, 1851, 264. 
