194 
SCOLOPACID.E. 
is very similiar to that of the Curlew. 1 am inclined to think 
it is usually somewhat later iii nesting. 
THE EEDSHAhJ'K. 
Totanus caliclris. 
The Eedshank is hy no means uncommon between the latter 
part of summer and the early spring. It has been said to be 
numerous in the breeding season, but I have not found it so ; 
nor, indeed, can I meet with any one who has seen more than 
an occasional pair at that time. Very few eggs have come 
into my hands, and these were found by myself at long in- 
tervals. Whether eggs be discovered or not, the clamour of 
the birds is quite sufficient evidence that the nest is near. I 
have usually found it in the long grass of low moist meadows, 
and once came upon it in the midst of a patch of nettles among 
the ruins of a cottage, but the site of it was never far from fresh 
water. The nest was always very slight, commonly consisting 
of a little dry grass, though in one instance it was of small 
pieces of dry seaweed which had been left within easy reach 
by some unusually high tide in winter. I have not seen eggs 
earlier than the 13th of May. 
In Shetland, Eedshanks are much more frequently met 
with among rocks than on the open shore ; therefore, as a rule, 
they are not difficult to shoot, concealment being easy, and the 
noise of the waves preventing footsteps from being heard. 
Ornithological writers seldom notice the fact that the legs and 
feet and the basal half of the lower mandible, bright red in 
summer, become orange red in winter. Macgillivray mentions 
that the young are said to have the back of the neck without 
feathers, as in the Bittern. I have never seen the young bird, 
but with the skin of the old one I have always experienced a 
considerable amount of difficulty in restoring the feathers of the 
back of the neck to their original position. 
