THE TRUE TATTLERS. 
299 
II. THE COMMON RED-SHANK. TOTANUS CALIDRIS. 
Scolopax ca/idrts, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 348 (1766). 
Totanus calidris, Macgill. Bnt. B. iv. p. 333 
Eur. viii. p. i 57 . pl- S^S, fi.s?- B P'; 569. 2 > 
B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 176 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. Yar- 
rell’s Brit. B. iii. p- 469 (1883); Seebohm, Hist. Bnt B. 
iii. p. 140, pl- 32. figs- 1-3 (1885) ; Saunders Man. Bn . 
B. p. 601 (1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. Bnt B. part xviii. 
(1891); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Miis. xxiv. p. 414 (1896)- 
Adult Male iu Summer Plumage.— General colour above brown, 
with more or less of a reddish hue, the feathers mouled with 
black centres, and notched or barred with black on the mar 
gins ; scapulars brown, barred with black; lower back and rump 
uure white, with a few black spots on the latter , upper ta 
Averts ashy-white, barred across with black ; wing-coverts uni- 
form excepting the median and greater coverts, which are bar- 
red with lighter brown and notched with white at tire ends , 
bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and primaries uniform blackish- 
brown ; the inner primaries while towards the ends, freckled 
with brown ; secondaries white, with blackish bases ; the inner 
secondaries brown, notched with whity-brown, and moie or 
ess distinctly barred with black; centre tail-fea hers brown, 
barred with darker brown, the remainder white barred across 
with blackish ; crown of head dark brow-n, the feathers edged 
w ith lighter brown ; lores blackish ; sides of face and ear- 
coverts white, streaked with blackish-brown ; cheeks, throat, 
and under surface of body white, streaked with broad central 
markings of blackish-brown, most of the breast-feathers with 
more or less concealed bars of brown ; abdomen white ; sides 
of body and flanks with arrow-shaped bars and streaks of 
brown • under tail-coverts white, barred across with brown ; 
under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white, with a few narrow 
brown bars near the edge of the wing; quills below dusky- 
brown ashy on the inner web, many of the quills freckled or 
barred with brown ; bill black, red near the base ; feet bright 
orange-red; iris brown. Total length, 9-5 inches ; culmen, I'SS; 
wing, 5-85 ; tail, 2-4 ; tarsus, 1-65. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but not quite so strongly 
mottled with black above, and somewhat less spotted below. 
