Spotted Redshank - 1894

Totanus fuscus

An autumn visitor; rare.

In Mr. Mathias' list : his brother, Mr. Lewis Mathias, of Lamphey Court, shot one in the Portclew Bottoms, near Freshwater East. Mr. Mathias informs us that he had seen several from time to time in Mr. Tracy's shop at Pembroke. These were all birds of the year, and had been obtained in the autumn.

Its longer bill and longer legs serve to distinguish this bird from the Common Redshank. In the nesting season it assumes a very singular plumage, in which it is black all over, save that the feathers of the back, scapulars, flank, and tail are tipped with semi-circular edgings of white, and the upper tail coverts are pure white. In this plumage it is very rarely obtained in the south-west of England.

Mathew M.A. 1894, Birds of Pembrokeshire and it's Islands