annelids, worms, crustaceans, and small mollUsks.
writer in the first volume of * The Naturalist’ sayé ofthis
bird :—“ When running along thé sands, thé Redshank has
the same kind of dipping motion for which some of the
smaller Sandpipers are io remarkable'; I was very much
struck with the curious manner in which they dart their
bills intd the sand nearly its:*whole length, by jumping up,
and thus giving it a sort of impetus,’ may use the
word, by the weight of their bodies pressing it downwards.”
Colonel Irby has described (Ibis, 1861, p. 239)-a flock óf
thirty or forty feeding in ah oblique line in a shallow pool
with their heads half under water, moving thëhr from right to
left with great rapidity, and making an audible noise. The
Redshank will dive when wounded; and it has bdén'seèn to
swim to shallower water on-rtbe other side ofi a creek rather
than rise and fly across.* Mr. Gatcoinbé informs the Editor
that hé saw a flock of fifteen or sixteen enter afwfeSy shallow
bay, and being deceived by the clearness of' the water,Mikey
alighted quite outuf their depth, and Were obliged to sWim
until they found bottom/ when they commenced;wading and
feeding as usual. He also narrates ^Zö$fc~1881^p'* 52) an
instance of a Redshank which came tfn board ship on'‘hearing
Ireland, and, being fed-and unmolested, ran about thë#e*ck
quite tame, until land was sighted. Like its bongeners, it
sometimes perches 'on, trees’ and rails, and Mr. «Stétenson
says that he' has often seen the male bird in spring uttering
his peculiar love-song while running along a gate, pirouetting
and bowing;like an amorous pigeon.- “Its flightós quick but
sóhiewhat wavering, and on the extended wing the! broad
white Band is very cUnspicuouj^g#-
The Redshank is-frequently mentioned in the L-’E'strange
accounts/ and in the: Northumberland Household-Book' its
price is set down at three halfpence a-piece •-«Sir’ Thomas
Browne also speaks of it as $f*©f common food but no dainty
dish,” and at thé present day itjis B'ut little'esteemed.
In this specie» the -webs.between the toes_ are more .developed than in i%
allies, and,' Eke' ‘alhi6s'rèvër^M'nér>species 5f tÈe‘ grotfpV it has been placed in a
separate genus—in this case, GicMetfa. .
In winter the beak is black at the point, dark red at the
base; the irides brown ; from the angle of the mouth to the
eye a dusky streak, over that and4he eye a white streak;
the top ‘ of the head, the back of the neck, the whole of
the back and wing-coverts, ash-brown; the wing-primaries
almost black; the rump white; the tail-feathers white,.
the inner ones tinged with grey, barred transversely with
brownish-black; the chin, the' neck in front, breast, belly,
and under tail-coverts white, with a few slight dusky streaks
in the line of thé shafts'of the feathers; legs and toes orange-
red in the adultV lemon-yellow in birds of "the ’year; thé
clay-S'Black.
In its>spring plumage,,'when assuming by. degrees" the
darker markings peculiar to the brewing- season, the- greater
co%erts and tertiUls are varied with spots,j brownish-black on
th#pdges, and the white parts -if the front of the neck, and
allvfhe under surface of the body/"sides',“""and flanks are
spotted and streaked with brownish-black. By the first'wéék
in*'June’-the lighter ash-coloured edgesöf the wing-épverts
and tertials are moré strongly' marked with "Brownish-black ^
a few^dark-coloured feathers appear on the back;. thé general
phlnaage - of the back i s 'rihgéC%ith brown, and the black
streaks and" spots on th#whitë surface of the rmckand breast"
are more^Conspicnons.
The^'sex-es 4-r'ésll»ble each dtJfeV^lh their colours, but the
females are larger - tbapHhe males. The whole length of an
adflt^female is about eleven inches. From the carpal joint
tootle end of the wing, six inches*and three-quarters.
A'The nestling is"”#®?fa dull buffy-whïte on the under, and
'M'&ius-buff =®omithenipper parts; -from the bIsV*m'thé bill to"
thé^e^e a blackish streak; an indistinct strêak' ‘;ohnfeaeh
side irdwh;^and"' a distinct-" Öhe down the centre",
with mottlimgs^on the nape, alh of %hé same dark colour;
baék«fbnfitudin'ally streaked with irfégufar alternate' ahark-
>Mgs-of black-and" !^ p ^ ish -w h itb g ‘inclining' to rufous on
wings; bill brownish; legs dulbyellow.