332 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



or early in October, singly or in pairs, and sometimes in small flocks. Without 

 ever b ing abundant the bird is quite common, and one can seldom approach 

 a pool or marsh on the pampas without seeing one or more individuals wading 

 near the margin, and hearing their powerful alarm cry — a long, clear note 

 repeated three times. These summer visitors leave us in March, and then, 

 oddly enough, others arrive, presumably from the south to winter on the 

 pampas, and remain from April to August. Thus, notwithstanding that the 

 yellow-shanks does not breed on the pampas, we have it with us all the year 

 'round. \ 



Dr. Alexander Wetmore (192G) saw it in Paraguay as early as 

 September 8 and in Chile as late as April 26. He writes: 



After their arrival in September greater yellow -legs were distributed through- 

 out the open pampa wherever shallow ponds offered suitable feeding places. 

 Occasionally 10 or 20 gathered in a flock, especially when northward migra- 

 tion was under way in March and April, but when on their wintering grounds 

 it was usual to find two or three in company, seldom more. They are rather 

 silent during the winter season but when the northward journey begins are 

 as noisy as is their custom in the north The species is large so that it is 

 attractive to pot hunters and many are killed. I saw a number of crippled 

 birds during the last two months of my stay in Argentina and consider that 

 it is these injured individuals, unable to perform the necessary flight, or 

 without desire to do so from their injuries, that are recorded on the pampas 

 from May to August when all should be in the Northern Hemisphere. Reports 

 of their breeding in Argentina, based on the presence of these laggards in 

 migration are wholly unauthenticated. 



I am inclined to think that most of the birds that remain in the 

 South from April to September are one-year-old birds which are 

 not ready to breed. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — North and South America. 



Breeding range. — The breeding range of the greater yellow-legs 

 extends north to Alaska (Bethel) ; British Columbia (Fort St. 

 James) ; Mackenzie (Peel River) ; Alberta (Island Lake) ; Manitoba 

 (Kalcoala) ; Labrador (Whale River and Hopedale) ; and New- 

 foundland (Gaff Topsail). East to Newfoundland (Gaff Topsail). 

 South to Newfoundland (Gaff Topsail) ; Quebec (Natashquan 

 River, Anticosti Island, and near Mt. Laurier) ; probably formerly 

 Illinois (Evanston) ; and British Columbia (Clinton). West to 

 British Columbia (Clinton, Fort George, and Fort St. James). 



They also appear to occur in summer with more or less regularity 

 north to Alaska (St. Paul Island, Bethel, and Nome) ; Keewatin 

 (near Cape Eskimo) ; and Franklin (Cumberland Sound) ; and non- 

 breeding specimens have at this season been noted south to the 

 Bahama Islands (Great Abaco) ; Florida (Key West, Sarasota Bay, 

 and Ponce Park) ; Alabama (Leighton) ; Texas (Amarillo, Lipscomb, 

 Pecos, and Corpus Christi) ; and California (Fresno, Santa Barbara, 

 and Nigger Slough). 



