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GREENSHANK

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 552 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GREENSHANK , one of the largest of the birds commonly known as sandpipers, the Totanus glottis of most ornithological writers. Some exercise of the See also:

imagination is however needed to see in the dingy See also:olive-coloured legs of this See also:species a See also:justification of the See also:English name by which it goes, and the application of that name, which seems to be due to See also:Pennant, was probably by way of distinguishing it from two allied but perfectly distinct species of Totanus (T. calidris and T. fuscus) having red legs and usually called redshanks. The greenshank is a native of the See also:northern parts of the Old See also:World, but in See also:winter it wanders far to the See also:south, and occurs regularly at the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope, in See also:India and thence throughout the Indo-See also:Malay See also:Archipelago to See also:Australia. It has also been recorded from See also:North See also:America, but its See also:appearance there must be considered accidental. Almost as bulky as a See also:woodcock; it is of a much more slender build, and its See also:long legs and See also:neck give it a graceful appearance, which is enhanced by the activity of its actions. Disturbed from the See also:moor or See also:marsh, where it has its See also:nest, it rises swiftly into the See also:air, conspicuous by its See also:white back and rump, and uttering shrill cries flies See also:round the intruder. It will See also:perch on the topmost bough of a See also:tree, if a tree be near, to See also:watch his proceedings, and the See also:cock exhibits all the astounding gesticulations in which the See also:males of so many other Limicolae indulge during the breeding-See also:season—with certain See also:variations, however, that are peculiarly its own. It breeds in no small See also:numbers in the See also:Hebrides, and parts of the Scottish See also:Highlands from See also:Argyllshire to See also:Sutherland, as well as in the more elevated or more northern districts of See also:Norway, See also:Sweden and See also:Finland, and probably also thence to See also:Kamchatka. In North America it is represented by two species, Totanus semipalmatus and T. melanoleucus, there called willets, telltales or tattlers, which in See also:general habits resemble the See also:green-shank of the Old World. (A.

End of Article: GREENSHANK

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