LITTLE GREENSHANK. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but larger. 
Adult, in winter-plumage. Differs from the adult in summer-plumage in the absence of 
the dark arrow-headed black blotches on the feathers of the back, the long 
secondaries not so conspicuously barred, in having fewer dark striations on the 
sides of the neck and body, and in having the forehead quite white ; bill black, 
lower base grey ; iris brown ; feet and legs olive-yellow. Total length 210 ; 
culmen 38, wing 146, tail 62, tarsus 53. 
Bird of the year. Hinder-crown, hind-neck, mantle, scapulars, and long innermost 
secondaries ash-grey with dark shaft-streaks and pale margins to the feathers, 
some of the long innermost secondaries have longitudinal dark lines ; wings 
darker than in the breeding-plumage, as also the lower-back and rump ; tail white, 
mottled with grey on the outer webs and more or less barred on the inner webs of 
the middle feathers ; inner webs of outer feathers pure white ; under-surface white. 
Nest. A depression in the grass. 
Eggs. “ Resemble those of Actitis hypoleucos but are a little smaller. Clutch four. 
Surface glossy. Ground colour very pale yellow, sometimes shading to a greenish 
tint. The spots larger than in those of the species quoted, especially on the larger 
end, where they often form a kind of irregular zone ; in others there are large spots 
on the smaller end, but never so large as those on the upper end. Dimensions : 
axis 38 to 39.6 mm., diameter 26 to 28.” (Taczanowski.) 
Breeding-season. June (Siberia, Godlewski). 
“ We found it plentiful on the River Argun in Dauria, where it lives around 
the lakes which lie in the valley of the river, and nests on the steppes at a 
distance from the water. It arrives in May, lays its eggs in June and sits so 
closely on them that it will not leave the nest unless almost trodden on, and 
this is the only way to find them as they are well hidden in the grass, and their 
colour resembles the surrounding earth. They become very excited if anyone 
approaches their young ; they fly towards the intruder and endeavour to lead 
him in another direction. We have not observed them anywhere else.”* 
Middendorff only obtained one specimen of this bird — on July 6th, near 
the coast of the Sea of Ochotsk. 
Radde (Lc.) says this species appeared on the Tarei-nor in the beginm’ng 
of May, where several females were shot. The East Siberian bird seemed to 
him to be of a larger build. 
One of the birds figured and described is a male collected in the Northern 
Territory in September, 1911. 
Eastern specimens in summer-plumage are certainly lighter on the upper- 
surface, the black markings being less noticeable, while the spotting on the 
breast and flanks is not so bold ; they are probably slightly larger as Radde 
suggested. 
* Godlewski, Mim. VAcad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb., Ser. VII., Vol. XXXIX., p. 866, 1893. 
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