TOTANUS TOTANUS (Linnaeus)
REDSHANK
Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain
HABITS
The redshank is a recent addition to the American list. Two specimens have been shot near Angmagsalik, in East Greenland, the first on May 29, 1902, and the second on April 24, 1909, and were recorded by the superintendent, Johan Petersen. Unfortunately, neither bird was sent to Copenhagen, so it remains uncertain whether they belong to the typical race or to the larger form described by Lehn Schiøler as T. totanus robustus. Doctor Coues suggested (1897) that the redshank should be included in the hypothetical list of North American birds on the ground of a specimen said to have been taken on Hudson Bay and transmitted to the British Museum, where, however, it is not to be found.
Courtship.—Fortunately we have very full accounts of the courtship and love song of this species from the observations of Messrs. E. Selous, W. Farren, and J. S. Huxley. Mr. Farren's (1910) account (incorporating much of Mr. Selous's notes) is as follows:
In courting, the male redshank approaches the female with his head erect and his body drawn up tall and straight. As he draws near he raises his wings high above his head for an instant as when alighting on the ground after a flight. Then allowing his wings gradually to droop he vibrates them and also his legs, the latter very rapidly, with a motion suggestion of a soldier "marking time." Mr. Selous (1906) has described this action, including the vibrating of the wings and legs, as follows: "The male bird, walking up to the female, raises his wings gracefully above his back. They are considerably elevated, and for a little he holds them aloft merely; but soon, drooping them to about half their former elevation, he flutters them tremulously and gracefully as though to please her." The female, as though unimpressed, turned from him and continued to feed, which did not greatly disturb her amorous wooer, as he also commenced to peck about as though feeding. But very soon he again walks up to the female "and now raising his wings to the fluttering height only, flutters them tremulously as before. He walks on a few steps and stops. He again approaches, and standing beside her—both being turned the same way—with his head and neck as it were curved over her, again trembles his wings, at the same time making a little rapid motion with his red legs on the ground as though he were walking fast, yet not advancing." This action occurs with fair frequency during the period before egg laying. I have witnessed it several times, having first been attracted by the raised wings of the male, rendered conspicuous by the white secondaries and undersides, without which I should probably not have seen the birds at all.
The habit of deliberately extending the wings upward on alighting, and thus exposing the light undersurface is one of the most characteristic actions of the redshank, and the white gleaming of the wing for a second or so before the wings are furled often enables one to identify the species even when the birds themselves are too far off to be recognized otherwise. Mr. Farren (1910) also adds:
Redshanks are fond of perching, either on horizontal branches of trees, on posts or rails; in the Cambridgeshire fens I have seen them displaying, as described by Stevenson, on the long low stacks of freshly dug peat, and also on the ground. A male may be seen running fussily about in front of the female, vibrating its body and drooping its wings and often uttering a note similar to the trilling song which accompanies the spring soaring flight.
J. S. Huxley (1912) gives a clearer and more complete picture of the courtship than any previous describer. The first stage consists in the pursuit of a hen by a male bird. Directly he stops feeding and runs after her, she runs away. Never in a straight line for any distance, but in a series of curves, often doubling back and sometimes describing a circle or even a figure of eight, while the cock follows her line a few yards behind. The cock's head is held sideways at an angle of quite 20 degrees with the line of his body in order to keep the hen in view, and his neck is stiffly stretched out. His pure white tail is expanded so that half is visible on each side of his folded wings. The chase often lasts for quite a long time, when the hen flies off leaving the male disconsolate, but sometimes she will stop and then the second stage begins.