LESSER YELLOW-LEGS 337 



A. G. Lawrence sends me an unusually early record for Whitewater 

 Lake, April 8, 1925. From the first to the middle of May it arrives 

 on its breeding grounds in northern Alberta and farther north, as far 

 as the limit of trees. Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) writes: 



This proved to be a common bird in the Kowak Valley. Its arrival was noted 

 in the vicinity of our winter camp on May 19, and from that day on its 

 presence could hardly be overlooked, for as one approached their domains 

 the yellowlegs would fly to meet him, uttering prolonged, monotonous cries. 

 Besides these notes of alarm the males had a full, melodious warble, sung for 

 minutes at a time as they flew slowly about overhead. Their favorite haunts 

 appeared to be the meadows lying between strips of timber, especially if there 

 was a shallow lake or pond in the vicinity. 



Nesting. — MacFarlane recorded in his notes some 30 nests of this 

 yellow-legs, found by him and his men in the wooded country about 

 Fort Anderson and its vicinity from 1862 to 1866. He speaks of it 

 as " a very noisy bird " that " will keep going before one, from tree 

 to tree, for several hundred yards beyond its nest." One nest is 

 described as ''near a lake, a small hole in the ground, with a few 

 decayed willow leaves underneath the eggs " ; another nest was " about 

 150 yards from a lake, on a rising, thinly wooded piece of ground "; 

 another was " on the face of a low hill, or rising ground, in the 

 midst of a tuft of hay, or rather of a ' tete-de-femme,' made of a 

 very few dead leaves in a depression"; others were "underneath 

 or shaded by some stunted willows on the borders of a swampy 

 tract, lined with a few withered grasses." 



J. Fletcher Street (1923) has published an interesting account of 

 the nesting habits of this species in Alberta, from which I quote as 

 follows : 



As Mr. Thomson had told us we found the chosen nesting site of the 

 yellow-legs to be on relatively high ground at an elevation from a few feet 

 to a possible 30 feet or more above the level of the ponds. Inv.riably the 

 nests were found not closer than 100 feet from the water's edge and sometimes 

 as far away as 200 yards. Generally a sloping bank, a ridge or a level plateau 

 was chosen for the immediate nesting site. No nests were noted in the he vily 

 forested area ; all of those secured in the region about Belvedere being found 

 among broken hills covered with burnt and fallen timber with a second growth 

 largely of low poplars, the burnt stubs affording excellent perches for the 

 birds. Therefore the assumption would be that amid normal conditions the 

 species would select rather open and high woodlands with sp rse, low under- 

 growth within a reasonable distance of marshy or grassy ponds. 



It is not until the full clutch of eggs is laid that the birds show that degree 

 of concern which leads to their undoing. Then there is great excitement on 

 the nesting grounds. The female bird will fly about with drooping legs and 

 tail, keeping up an incessant kip, kip, and alighting upon near-by stubs. In this 

 the male will join her, but not to the same degree, frequently, after the initial 

 rally, flying away to the lake. His darker breast markings and slightly larger 

 size readily identify him. If the observer retires and conceals himself the 

 excitement of the female will gradually subside, she will fly from stub to stub, 



