G R A L L A T O R E S . 'SC O L O P A C ID Æ .
T H E COMMON REDSHANK.
Sçolopax caUdris,
Totanus, , ,
Common Redshank, PENN.’-BnAv^ogtl vol. iit p,
I „ - MoNTj-Orflitlk b&t. .
•The •. *, Bl hirIvTimvBiMs.'TOFiR p. 75.
*»: rLEM.JBriti-An. p. 102."
R edshan k Sandpiper, Selby, Bijt. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 72.
' J enYns, Brit. Veit. p. 196.
The Redshank, ■' GWi/d, Birds of Europe, pt. v.
Chevalier gambette, Temm. Man. d’Omith. vol$ii..p. 643.
T he Common Redshank is much morn numerous, and
accordingly much, better .known,.-than the .species .last described,
and is resident in many parts of this country all the
year. In the winter season it frequents |p d feeds on the seashore,
over those extensive flats which are left bare by every
receding tide, and the birds are then seen in flocks ; in the
spring, however, they retire to fens and marshes, near pools
or lakes, and to., the banks of rivers, where during the breeding
season they,are; only seen singly or in pairs. They feed
on aquatic-finsects^ and on marine or other worms, which they
probefor with* their beaks in soft* mud. Mr. Thompson says
fchéy&îe common in. Ireland, andra writer in the first volume
of,the Naturalist^.mentien&l^that they are very numerous in
Dublin Bay, .where it$j$- stated these birds may. sometimes be
keen in very J a rg e ^ o ^ s , .frequently amounting to one hundred
and fifty f0^.tw©;€#it^©A'i «a# the larger the flock, the
more shy-and dffiéultiwere4fie; birds , of approach ; they are
always> on rthe look out, andrtake, wing» ;om the least alarm or
any a p p e a ra n c e ^ danger;* when running along the sands,
,'|fhe Redshank has jte sam e kin# of dipping motion for which
?%n|;e of. tfies smaller. Sandpipers^are.so remarkable. I was
yp^iftuch struck withÿthë c-ur|<hiS’.manner in which they dart
thgir.bills, inio^hK sand nearly; its whole-length, by jumping
Up,- and thus , giving it ;a . serfr ofi impetus,vif I may use the
word, by thetweighft of their bodies pressing it downwards.”
Redshanks aré; not uncommon in s Cornwall, Devonshire,
and Dorsetshire^ ■ They still frequent Romney Marsh as
theyifd|d»i,n the days^lff Montagu^ for the purpose of. breeding,
Mr. J tessje| sent me a.? specimen killed at Hampton in
autumn. The.authbrs of the catalogue of the Norfolk and
Suffolk birds. Sayalll the Redshank is found in considerable
numbers in many' of the marshes both of Norfolk and Suffolk
during’the.-breeding season., ItKëgindeed more common than
any&bther kind of wader-.,- To sportsmen-it is very troublesome,
- flying around them and uttering an incessant shrill
whistle, which alarms all the other birds near the spot. A
few Redshanks aré sometimes met with during the winter
season, but the greater part of them migrate. This species is
found solitary and also in flocks, on the ooze, of the river