328 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



It is not as gregarious as the lesser yellow-legs ; it is most often seen 

 singly or in small parties, but I have counted as many as 40 in a 

 flock on rare occasions. 



When walking on the ground its movements are lively and its car- 

 riage is gra eful, though its long legs seem to give it a somewhat 

 jerky gait at times. On its breeding ground it often alights on the 

 tops of spruce or larch trees, or on bushes or dead stubs, on which it 

 balances rather awkwardly. It is normalty a shy and wary species; 

 large flocks are very difficult to approach; but sometimes single indi- 

 viduals seem to be absurdly tame in the presence of other tame 

 species or among decoys. Some good photographs of it have been 

 taken at short range. William Brewster (1925) tells of one that he 

 approached in the open to within ten feet and then fired his gun 

 directly over it without causing it to fly. Mr. Nichols suggests, in 

 his notes : 



It would seem almost as though these birds drew an abstract danger line, 

 difficult to cross from the outside without alarming them, but once inside which, 

 man became to them a mere harmless item of the landscape. I have had a 

 greater yellowlegs, a bird of the year, come to decoys (under the impression 

 that they were others of its kind) and as the water was too deep, alight and 

 stand on one of the decoys, recognizing in it a piece of wood, meanwhile being 

 remarkably tame, perhaps waiting for others of the flock (of decoys) to take 

 alarm. Is not this pragmatic rather than rational philosophy which they 

 possess, the weakness most in favor of the gunner who hunts shore birds with 

 decoys? 



He also adds the following notes on behavior : 



I have seen the greater yellowlegs preen its plumage in leisurely manner 

 without repeatedly dipping the bill in the water, as the lesser frequently does. 

 It reached far back over its shoulder, lifted a wing slightly to pick under it, 

 stretched its neck up to reach the breast with its bill, and scratched its chin 

 deliberately with the right foot. On another occasion a bathing bird crouched 

 down in shallow water, ducking the head and at the same time fluttering and 

 splashing vigorously with the wings. 



A resting bird stands at ease, neck hunched down, with slight alert move- 

 ments of the head. From time to time it may turn its bill back and bury it in 

 the feathers along the back with a little shake of same, one eye at least 

 exposed and open though blinking sleepily. An interesting pose which may be 

 assumed for two or three minutes is With the bill resting diagonally downward 

 across the feathers of the breast. It may stand for a long time on one motion- 

 less straight leg, inclined so as to bring the foot under its center of gravity, the 

 other leg raised and concealed by the feathers. 



Though a wounded lesser yellowlegs will sometimes dive and swim under 

 water, I have not seen the smaller species alight in spots too deep for wading. 

 The greater yellowlegs on the other hand does so not infrequently. It sw.ins 

 gracefully with phalaropelike motion of the neck, held erect, stern tilted up like 

 that of a gull. In shallow water over mud so soft and sticky that it made 

 wading difficult I have seen a bird launch itself forward, swimming, as the 

 easier method of propulsion. 



