244 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



to represent the bird and stuck up in the mud 

 near a shooting blind. To these decoys they 

 often come witli Httle hesitation, especially if to 

 this deception the hunter adds an additional lure 

 by imitating their call with a fair degree of 

 accuracy. 



There is a widespread idea that these birds 

 appear later in the autumn than the Lesser 

 Yellow-legs, so they are much called " Winter 

 Yellow-legs.'' "Tattler" and "Tell-tale'' are 

 also popular names for this species. The breed- 

 ing grounds are mainly north of the United 

 States, to which territory they retire in May, but 

 by July many individuals are back. In fact, the 

 tide of the migration of the Yellow-legs that 

 ebbs and flows along our coast and interior 

 waterways, seems never to cease, for every 



month in the year they are found in many South- 

 ern States. Une reason for this is the fact that 

 not all are mated any one season and numbers 

 of the unpaired birds do not go north at all. In 

 the Gulf States many Greater Yellow-legs pass 

 the winter, but the great bulk go farther afield 

 and scatter throughout the lands to the south as 

 far as Patagonia. 



Their food consists of minnows and such in- 

 sects and other small forms of life as are ob- 

 tainable in and about tlie water. Where bars 

 and mud flats are exposed at low tide, there the 

 Yellow-legs are wont to come. Along the shores 

 of ponds, lakes, and rivers of the interior they 

 are found, and in fact, few, if any, shore birds 

 have so extended a range. 



T. GiLBLCRT Pearson. 



YELLOW-LEGS 

 Totanus flavipes (Cinclin) 



A. O. U. .Vumber 255 See Color Tlate ,i(. 



Other Names. — Common Yellow-legs ; Lesser Yel- 

 low-le.us ; Little Tell-tale; Lesser Tell-tale; Lesser 

 Yellow-shanks ; Yellow-legged Plover ; Summer Yellow- 

 legs ; Little Yelper; Small Cucu ; Little Stone-bird; 

 Little Stone Snipe : Lesser Long-legged Tattler. 



General Description. — Length, ii inches. An exact 

 miniature of the Greater Yellow-legs, from which it 

 differs only in size. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : A depression in the 

 ground under shelter of tuft of grass or bushes, or in 

 the open. Ecos : 4, creamy, huffy or clay-color, usu- 

 ally boldly marked, splashed, or blotched with burnt 



umber, blackish, and lavender, but sometimes with small 

 spots over entire surface. 



Distribution. — North and South America ; breeds 

 from Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, northern Mackenzie, 

 central Keewatin, and southern Ungava to the valley 

 of the upper Yukon, southern Saskatchewan, and 

 northern Quebec; winters in Argentina, Chile, and 

 Patagonia, and casually in Mexico, Florida, and the 

 Bahamas; in migration occurs mainly east of the Rocky 

 Mountains (rare in spring on the Atlantic coast) and in 

 the Pribilof Islands, Greenland, and Bermuda; acci- 

 dental in Great Britain. 



YELLOW-LEGS IN MANITOBA SLOUGH 



