338 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



at length become silent, look about inquiringly and take a short flight to the 

 ground and run to the nest. After settling she may be approached within 4 

 feet before flushing which she does with a loud call of alarm. While on the 

 nest she sits low and close. 



The nest is a mere depression in the ground, lined with a few leaves or a 

 small amount of dry grass, the cup having a diameter of 3.5 to 4 inches and a 

 depth of 1.25 to 1.50 inches. It may be located next to a stub, along a prostrate 

 log or in the open. 



Richard C. Harlow, who collected with Mr. Street in the same 

 region, tells me that this bird will sometimes scratch out several 

 hollows within a radius of 50 or 75 yards and line some of them 

 with dry aspen leaves before laying in the one selected. Three of 

 the nests found by Mr. Harlow were close to or between fallen burnt 

 logs and one was in a bushy situation in a clearing near the edge of 

 some woods. The nests were lined with dry leaves of poplar and 

 aspen and a few dry grasses. One set that he collected for me was 

 at the base of a small bush on dry barrens, half a mile from water. 

 Richard H. Rauch in the same general locality found a nest in what 

 he calls an unusual location, 10 yards from the margin of a small 

 lake in a very wet muskeg; the nest was a depression in the moss, 

 lined with a few dry birch leaves. 



Eggs. — The yellow-legs lays four eggs, occasionally only three. 

 These are ovate pyriform in shape and have a slight gloss. The 

 ground colors usually vary from " olive-buff " to " cream-buff " and 

 rarely from "honey yellow" to "cartridge buff," or from "light 

 pinkish cinnamon " to " pinkish buff." The more richly colored eggs 

 are often boldly and handsomely marked. Some are quite evenly 

 covered with small blotches and spots; others also have large, 

 irregular blotches and splashes, chiefly about the larger end and 

 often with a spiral trend. These markings are in dark rich browns, 

 "chocolate," "liver brown," "bay," and "chestnut brown," some- 

 times deepening almost to black, where the pigment is thickest. 

 Many large underlying blotches and spots of various shades of 

 " purple-drab " and " ecru-drab " are conspicuous and add to the 

 beauty of the eggs. There is an albino egg in the national collection, 

 creamy white with only a few small pale brown spots. The measure- 

 ments of 51 eggs average 42 by 28.9 millimeters; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 45 by 30, 42 by 30.5, 39.5 by 29.5, and 

 41 by 27.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Incubation is shared by both sexes, but we have no in- 

 formation as to its duration. MacFarlane found a pair of yellow- 

 legs with three recently hatched young " in a small watery swamp," 

 where the young were able to conceal themselves in the short grass. 

 Mr. Street (1923) says: 



Young were found for the first time on June 4. Both male and female at 

 this time were highly excited, the female approaching within 10 feet of us. 



