THE REDSHANK. 
By B. R. M. 
In my shooting excursions lately, I have not unfrequently met with that very 
pretty and interesting little bird, the Redshank ( Totanus calidris) ; and as my 
observations upon it lead me to conclude its habits and manners to be rather dif¬ 
ferent from what they are, in general, supposed to be, I send you the result, which 
may, perhaps, be interesting to some of your readers. I confess I was rather 
surprised at first to find the Redshank always in very large flocks, as I had al¬ 
ways previously considered it and its congeners to be birds of solitary habits ; but 
I have very seldom seen it in this neighbourhood in flocks of less than a dozen, 
frequently amounting even to one hundred and fifty, or two hundred; and the 
larger the flock the more shy and difficult were the birds of approach. Indeed, 
even in small flocks, it generally contrives to baffle and elude the attempts of the 
sportsman; as it is always on the look out, and takes wing on the least alarm, or 
the slightest appearance of approaching danger. Towards the beginning of the 
breeding season, they are, however, rather more accessible; for they do not fly 
very far on being disturbed, but generally alight again a few hundred yards off. 
The breeding season is the only time of the year in which they are not found in 
flocks ; at this period they leave the shores, and disperse themselves over the 
country, in places more suitable for incubation. The tide here, on receding, 
leaves a very large surface of muddy sand exposed ; and this seems to be pecu¬ 
liarly favourable to birds of this class, and accordingly it is very much frequented 
by the Tringoe, Totani , JYumenii, and other birds of this family; for all these 
obtain their food in the same situations. The Redshank is, I think, most nearly 
allied, in its habits, to the genus Tringa ; and it has the same kind of dipping 
motion, when running on the sands, for which the latter is so remarkable. I was 
very much struck with the curious manner in which they dart their bills into the 
mud or sand, for the purpose of getting at their food. They seem to bury it in 
the sand nearly its whole length, by jumping up, and thus giving it a sort of impetus, 
if I may use the word, by the weight of their bodies pressing it downwards. The 
bill is about an inch and a half long. The legs are delicate, of a deep orange 
colour, and long. 
Dublin , May 10$, 1836. 
VOL. i. 
G 
