season, and after the young are fledged, it resorts to the shores of the sea, frequenting pools of brackish 
water and the shallow margins of bays and creeks. It is extremely shy and vigilant, insomuch that one can 
very seldom shoot it, unless after it has deposited its eggs. Many remain during the summer, when they 
are to be found by the lakes in the interior, of which the number in Uist, Harris, and Lewis is astonishing. 
At that season it is very easily discovered ; for, when one is perhaps more than a quarter of a niile distant, 
it rises into the air with clamorous cries, alarming all the birds in the neighbourhood, flies round the place 
of its nest, now wheeling off to a distance, again advancing, and at Intervals alighting by the edge of the 
lake, when it continues its cries, vibrating its body all the while. 
“ A nest found in the island of Harris, at a considerable distance from a small lake, consisted of a few 
fragments of heath and some blades of grass, placed in a shallow cavity scraped in the turf, on a slight 
eminence — covered chiefly with moss, lichens, some carices, and short heath. The eggs, placed with their 
narrow ends together, were four in number, pyriform, and of a pale yellowish green, sprinkled all over with 
irregular spots of dark brown intermixed with blotches of light purplish grey, the spots and, especially, the 
blotches being most numerous at the larger end. The dimensions of one of them was exactly two inches 
by one inch and three-eighths. 
“ In ordinary circumstances the Greenshank searches the shores in muddy places for food, often walking- 
out into the water until it nearly reaches to the tarsal joint. It generally advances with rapidity, running 
rather than walking, and almost continually vibrating its body. On being disturbed it stands with upraised 
neck, emits a succession of loud and shrill cries, and, though there should be little danger, it flies off to a 
distance. Its flight is rapid, gliding, and devious ; and it alights abruptly, runs to some distance, stands and 
vibrates.” 
For the following note, on the occurrence of the bird in another part of Scotland, I am indebted to the 
Duke of Argyll : — 
“ The Greenshank comes to our shores in Argyllshire, and on the Clyde, rather earlier than the Redshank, 
but in much smaller numbers. It is often solitary, seldom more than one pair together. It is very shy, 
and emits a loud piping note at frequent intervals. Its alarm note is loud and vociferous. Its habits are 
extremely active, more so than those of the Redshank, in its search for food along the margins of the ebb. 
I have never seen it, except on the shore of our deep arms of the sea. Its flesh is excellent, far superior to 
that of the Redshank.” 
The late Mr. Wheelwright, in his ‘ Notes on the Ornithology of Lapland,’ says : — “ The finest, and perhaps 
the commonest of the Waders is the Greenshank ; it is one of the earliest to arrive in spring, and certainly 
the earliest to leave in autumn. Having a good opportunity of studying its habits in the breeding-season, I 
was struck with their resemblanee to those of the Green Sandpiper. The wild nature of the bird, its loud, 
shrill cry of ^ chee-ivheet, chee-wheet' as it dashes through the air with the speed of an arrow, and its par- 
tiality for woodland lakes and streams, all prove its affinity to that species ; and, save that I always took 
the eggs from the ground, the habits of one bird appeared exactly to resemble those of the other. The eggs 
of the Greenshank are often laid far away from water. I once took the eggs from a thin layer of leaves 
on a stony rise in an open forest, about one hundred yards from a small stream. I observed that, as soon 
as the young were hatched otf, the old birds led them down to some grassy swamp in the forest ; and I have 
met with three or four families in the same spot. It is now that the wild cry of this bird is heard to per- 
fection if you enter the swamp with a dog ; and it is a pleasing sight to see how little fear the old birds 
display in endeavouring to drive the intruder from the spot. No trying to allure him away by sham pre- 
tences, as the Lapwing and many other birds do, but a downright courageous attack, which never ceases 
until the dog is fairly beaten off. I have often seen the Greenshank settle in a tree.” 
Like many of the other Sandpipers, the Greenshank is subject to a seasonable change in the colouring of its 
plumage, though not to so great an extent as the Knot and Dunlin. At the season of reproduction the 
plumage is much darker than in winter, the increased depth of colour being due to the centre of the feathers 
being more or less streaked with black. The birds of the first autumn have the delicate grey feathers of 
their upper surfiice margined with a still lighter tint, imparting to them a very pretty appearance. 
At all seasons the two sexes are alike in colour, and but little different in size, the female being the 
larger of the two. 
The Plate represents the bird of the natural size, with a reduced figure in the distance. 
