land they are seen chiefly in autumn, but are of rare occurrence.
Mr. Selby, whenin Sutherlandshire, in June 1884,
says of this bird; “ We detected, this ..species breeding in various
parts of the. country,'generally in some-swampy marsh;
or by. the margin of some of itsi* numerous lochs. I t is-very
wild and wary, except when > it' has tendervyoung, at which
tijne, whep first disturbed,. it sometimes, approaches pretty,
near, making ^a rapid stoop like the Redshank at the head^of
the intruder. I f fired and missed, which- is frequently the
case even by a good marksman, -as the stopp is made with remarkable
rapidity,- it'^ddqm, at least for that day, ventures
again within range. - A pair which had their nest in a marsh
ne^r Tongue, after having beenpnce fired at, could not again
be approached; ^|>pt' wel-obtained one ofjth'e young,^'apparently
about a fortnight old, by means of a water dog. Another
pair were shot near Scourie, by the margin of a small loch,
^vrjj#er, from thejr violent outcries and alarm, thdy^evidently
had their nest, or young, though we were u n a b le ^ find
either.’’ The Greenshank was observed by Mr. Ilewitson and
his friends when in Norway, and, to Jheir great surprise, was
seen more than.once seated^ above their, heads on the top of
a tall tree. Muller and M: Nilsson include-Jt as a summer
visiter to Denmark and Sweden; and from Me, state of the
plumage of- several specimens in the collection of Richard
Dann, Esq.robtained in the northern-part of Scandinavia, there
is no doubt that this species breeds every season as far north
as the Arctic circle, in Lapland.
They feed on small .fish, worms, insects, besides crusta-
ceoiis and molluscous animals.
This- bird visits Russia, and has been found in Germany,
.on the banks of the Rhine ;i|is‘occasionally obtained in H qJ-
land, .but only seen on its passage in France, Provence, Switzerland*
and. Italy. , Mr. Strickland says it visits Smyrna in
winter, and he obtained a specimen, but it was considered
rare. The Zoological Society have received specimens from
Trebizond* by favour of Keith Abbott, Esq. M. Julian
Desjardins communicated to the Zoological Society, in 1888,
a descripfi$feof this bird taken, from a specimen killed in
Mauritius : the bird not being known to have previously occurred
in the „'island; According to Pennant it had been
found in India and in China. M. Temminck has received
specimens from Bengal. Dr. Horsfield includes the Green-
shank in his c'àtaî'ogtie-of the Birds of Java'; and M. Temminck
remarks, that 3 th# exainples of ; this bird received by
him froih ll$e{ island of Sun da, and the Moluccas, in every
respect résemblejthole of Europe; but are always in the plumage
of-winter. Montagu, in his Ornithological Dictionary,
said?that this bird had been observed in America, in the province
of New Y ork ; and Mr. Audubon has since found it
in Florida.
The beak of, the Greenshank yis about two inches lonar,
nearly black, and veryflfigMly" Curved upwards ; the irides
hazel ; the upper part of the head, the cheeks, the neck on
the sides and behind, marked with well defined dark lines,
on a ground colour pra greyish white ; the back, wing-coverts,
'and tertials, ash brown, edged with buffy white ; quill-primaries
uniform dusky black ; tail-feathers white, those in the
middle barred transversely, the outer feathers striped longitudinally
with ash brown ; chin white ; front of the neck to
the breast, and the( SM’esf1'under the wings, white, slightly
marked 'longitudinally with ash colour ; breast, belly, vent,
and under tail-coverts, pure white ; legs and toes, olive green;
claws, black. The specimen from which our figure was taken,
was killed at the beginning of May ; the dark streaks and
spots on the neck are well defined, and almost black ; the
centre O’&sSome -of the feathers on the back, is in change to
greenish black, which is the prevailing tint on the upper surface
of the body when the plumage of the breeding season is