TOTAXrS STAGNATILIS. 
847 
the “ Marsh-Sandpiper ” at work on one of these little tidal pools. But fire into the busy troop, and, as is 
sometimes the case when birds are scattered, miss them clean ! It is then that we discover the true nature of 
our Little Greenshank. Up he starts, screaming and piping with rage, and, after flying round and round the 
pond, still fussing and fuming at having been so rudely disturbed, he settles down quickly, and commences to 
hunt anew, screaming all the while as if it were impossible to exhaust his rage, until he espies the looked-for 
quarry and suddenly relapses into silence. 
It is often to be seen consorting with its larger relative, as its long legs enable it to feed in just as deep 
water as that species, and occasionally it associates with the Wood-Sandpiper. As a rule, it is generally 
observed in little parties of two, three, or four, and is often found singly. At times I have seen it in little 
troops of more than a dozen, tightly packed together, and assembled evidently to “ work ” some particularly 
promising spot ; they all advance in the same direction, with their heads down, rapidly scooping up the tiny 
crustaceans and larvae on which they feed. Small univalves and other minute shells are to be found in its 
stomach, and I think aquatic insects form the least part of its food. It seldom, as far as I have been able to 
judge, frequents fresh water in Ceylon, though it may occasionally be seen in paddy-fields; but in India 
Jerdon found it in “young rice-fields and open marshy spots.” Its flight is swift, and has the same darting 
gliding character as that of other Sandpipers. Mr. Thos. Robson, in writing to Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser, 
remark that they rest within the edges of marshes with muddy bottoms, on one leg ; and when disturbed they 
hop out and rise from one leg. 
Nidification . — As stated above, Severtzoff says that the Little Greenshank breeds in Turkestan in the 
northern and south-eastern districts of the country. We learn nothing, however, of its nest and eggs from 
his writings. It has, however, been found nesting in Hungary in June; and Mr. Dresser received its eggs 
from the Curator of the Pesth Museum. There are no details of the nest published by any author to whose 
works I have access ; but it is to be inferred that the nest is similar to that of the last species. I find from an 
examination of a series that the eggs vary in ground-colour from dull clay-stone to olivaceous grey; they are 
moderately pyriform in shape, and are very handsomely and richly marked, some with very dark almost black 
straggling blotches, running into hieroglyphic-like dashes, over blots of paler browm and specks of bluish grey, 
and others with moderately-sized rather round blots of deep sepia, chiefly distributed over the large end, 
mingled with smaller specks and underlying washes of bluish grey. In one egg the large straggling clouds 
take an oblique direction, and impart a very handsome appearance to it. One egg in a series of five measures 
1-64 by 1-06 inch, and another 1-49 by 1-07. These eggs, which were taken in Lapland, are in the collection 
of Mr. Dresser. 
