Uist, Harris, and Lewis is astonishing. At that season it is very easily
discovered, for when you are perhaps more than a quarter of a mile distant,
it rises into the air with clamorous cries, alarming all the birds in
its neighbourhood, flies round the place of its nest, now wheeling off' to a
distance, again advancing towards you, and at intervals alighting by the
edge of the lake, when it continues its cries, vibrating its body all the
while. I once found a nest of this bird in the island of Harris. It was
at a considerable distance from the water, and consisted of a few fragments
of heath and some blades of grass, placed in a shallow cavity scraped in
the turf, in an exposed place. The nest, in fact, resembled that of the
Golden Plover, the Curlew, or the Lapwing. The eggs, placed with
their narrow ends together, were four in number, pyriform, larger than
those of the Lapwing, and smaller than those of the Golden Plover,
equally pointed with the latter, but proportionally broader and more
rounded at the larger end than either. The dimensions of one of them,
still remaining with me, are two inches exactly, by one inch and threeeighths
; the ground colour is a very pale yellowish-green, sprinkled all
over with irregular spots of dark brown, intermixed with blotches of light
purplish-grey, the spots, and especially the blotches, more numerous on
the larger end. Although in summer these birds may be seen in many
parts of the islands, they are yet very rare, a pair being to be met with
only at an interval of several miles. In other parts of Scotland they are
seen chiefly in aufumn, but are of rare occurrence.1'
It is curious how nearly by this account the habits of the Greenshank
correspond with those of the Tell-tale Godwit, Totanus melanolcucos.
SCOLOPAX GLOTTIS, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 245—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 270.
TOTANUS GLOTTIS, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. part ii. p. G59.—Sclby, Illust. vol. ii. p. 86.
GREENSHANK, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 618.
Male in Summer. Plate CCLXIX.
Bill long, slender, compressed, tapering, slightly recurved. Upper
mandible with the dorsal line very slightly curved upwards, the ridge
convex, the sides grooved nearly to the middle, afterwards convex, the
edges inflected and directly meeting those of the lower mandible, the tip
narrowed and slightly deflected. Nostrils basal, linear, pervious, nearer
the edge than the dorsal line. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow
and medial, beyond it the outline straight and ascending, the sides
grooved as far as the angle and convex, the edges sharp and inflected,
the point very narrow.
Head small, oblong, narrowed before. Neck rather long, slender.
Body slender. Feet long and slender; tibia bare for half its length, scutellate
before and behind; tarsus long, slender, covered before and behind
with numerous scutella, the narrow lateral spaces with extremely small
oblong scales. Toes small, very slender, scutellate above, flat beneath,
marginate, the middle toe connected with the outer by a basal membrane,
with the inner by an extremely small one; first toe extremely small, second
slightly shorter than fourth, third considerably longer. Claws small,
compressed, arched, rather obtuse, that of third toe with a dilated inner
edge.
Plumage soft and blended, on the fore part of the head very short, on
the neck short and almost downy. AVings rather long, very acute, narrow
; primaries tapering and rounded, the first longest, the second little
shorter, the rest rapidly graduated ; secondaries obliquely rounded, the
inner elongated and tapering. Tail short, of twelve narrow, rounded feathers,
the two middle ones considerably longer than the rest.
Bill dusky-green, black at the end. Iris brown. Feet dull greenish
grey. A broad band from the bill to the eye, all the lower parts, as
well as the back, excepting a small portion anteriorly, pure white; that
colour, however, does not appear on the back, when the wings are closed,
it being covered over by the scapulars. Loral space white, marked with
small oblong spots of greyish brown; sides of the lower part of fore neck
and a portion of the breast faintly barred with grey. The upper part of
the head, and the hind part and sides of the neck are greyish-white, with
longitudinal central greyish-brown markings. The scapulars and inner
secondaries are greyish-brown, the feathers edged with greyish-white, and
lined or mottled with dark brown towards the margins; the smaller wingcoverts
plain, the larger darker near the edge and margined with whitish,
as are the outer secondaries; the primary quills and their coverts dark
brown, the shaft of the outer white. The tail is greyish-white, undulated
with light brown, the four outer feathers on each side with only a series
of spots on the outer edge, which on the outermost feathers is almost
obliterated.
Length to end of tail 11 inches, to end of wings 12 ; wing from flexure
7 ; tail 3 ; bill along the back %ft along the edge of lower mandible ;
%bare part of tibia 15
5 ; tarsus %ft ; middle toe its claw ft.
T