THE REDSHANK 
ones saymg, what a glorious time that will be, 
and how we shall enjoy it ! ” 
And then, very likely, she will tell them how 
they will be able to thrust their slender beaks into 
the oozy mud, where they will find worms, and the 
most delicious marine insects, all with the fine salt 
flavour of the sea upon them. 
The Baby Redshank is a most engaging little 
creature, very quaint and pretty, yet with an air of 
knowing all that it is possible for a young bird to 
know. He is covered with soft creamy down, faintly 
touched with dark brown ; and one curious point 
about him is that his toes are unusually long and 
spreading for so small a bird. Just the right sort of 
toes for paddling and walking over marshy places. 
It is not until the beginning of May that 
Mrs. Redshank lays her four eggs. These have a 
greenish tinge, and blotches and marks of dull 
reddish brown. The nest is often nothing more 
than a small hollow trodden in the ground, lined 
with a few dried bents, or grasses, or a dead leaf or 
two, and often with no lining at all. Sometimes it 
is placed in the middle of a tussock of grass, which 
is pulled over it so as to hide it from view. 
