SCOLOPACIDyE — THE SNIPE FAMILY — TOTANUS. 277 



In Bermuda, according to ^Nlajor Wedderburn, it arrives regularly about the 1st of 

 August in each year, being one of the earliest visitors from the north, and there 

 remains until the end of September. On the 13th of July, 1847, one of this species 

 was caught, in an exhausted state, on the north shore of one of the islands, during a 

 gale from the northwest. On the 28th of July, 1848, a large flock was seen, and 

 a week later the birds had become very numerous. 



It is more or less abundant during the winter from South Carolina to Mexico. Mr. 

 Dresser met with it near Matamoras, but it was not common. In the spring of 1864, 

 at San Antonio, he noticed it much oftener than he did at Matamoras, and in 

 April and early in May shot several. He also saw this bird on Galveston Island 

 early in June. 



In the opinion of Audubon the Yellowshank is much more abundant in the inte- 

 rior than along the coast. In the early autumn, when the sandbars of the Ohio are 

 uncovered, it may be seen upon them in small flocks, employed in searching for food, 

 wading in the water up to the feathered part of their legs. In the Carolinas they 

 resort to the ricetields, and in Florida to the wet savannahs. He met with a few on 

 the coast of Labrador, but did not find their nests. He was informed by Thomas 

 MacCuUock that it breeds in considerable numbers about Pictou ; but when in that 

 place, in 1850, I could obtain no corroboration of this statement. Mr. MacCullock 

 described the nest as placed among the grass on the edges of streams and ponds of 

 the interior. 



Although this bird has been but once reported on the Southern Pacific shore, yet 

 Mr. Dall states that it was obtained both at Sitka and at Kadiak by Mr. Bischoff. It 

 was not rare at Fort Yukon, where it was found breeding by Lockhart. It was also 

 seen in small numbers at Xulato and near the mouth of the Yukon. Mr. Kennicott, 

 who found it breeding near Fort Eesolution, states that it arrives there in the spring 

 among the first birds. He describes its nest as of the simplest kind, it being merely 

 a depression without any lining, at the foot of a small bush, in rather open ground, a 

 rod from the edge of a marsh. Another nest was in an open place among sparse, low 

 bushes — a simple depression, but lined with a feAv leaves and small sticks. Mr. 

 MacFarlane found the nests of this species, lined with decayed leaves, on the Lower 

 Anderson Eiver ; and in some instances they were near the edge of a small lake. 

 Others were taken at Fort Anderson, some as early as June 2. The nests were all 

 mere depressions, with a very scanty lining. The usual number of the eggs was four. 

 In several instances the male bird was seen to perch on trees near the nest, in the 

 manner of the Common Snipe. Some were already hatched by the 19th of June. 

 When the pair had young, they were very noisy, going constantly before the intruder 

 from tree to tree for several hundred yards beyond their nest. The young, even 

 when just hatched, run and hide in the short grass, so as to make it difficult to find 

 them, the parents, in the meanwhile, flying and screaming in the air above. 



The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. MacFarlane exhibit some variations in 

 the shading of the ground and in their markings. No. 11397, ISTat. Mus., average in 

 measurement 1.68 inches in length and 1.12 in breadth. Their ground-color is a 

 light drab, verging in some into a darker hue, marked with separate rounded blotches 

 of bistre, of a light tint, and washed in a few instances with the ground-color, giving 

 the effect of a light ashy slate. jSTo. 11388, S. I., the ground-color a dull, deep rufous 

 drab ; the spots more numerous and confluent, giving to the eggs a very different 

 effect from that usually presented. 



