340 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



been beaten down flat by the storms of the previous winter. These 

 places seemed to hold some strong attraction for them, for they 

 repeatedly returned after being driven off. While we remained 

 partially concealed in some clumps of tall grass, they frequently 

 alighted near us and ran nimbly about over the flattened grass, 

 darting rapidly in various directions to pick up food. The grass 

 was full of minute grasshoppers and other small insects on which 

 they were feeding. Evidently this food was unusually abundant 

 that season, for I have never seen them there in any numbers since 

 1921. 



Arthur H. Howell (1924) says that, in Alabama, "this bird feeds 

 mainly on insects, including ants, bugs, flies, and grasshoppers, and 

 on small crustaceans, small fishes and worms." Dr. Alexander 

 Wetmore (1916) reporting on . the food of four birds, taken in 

 Porto Rico, says that " water boatmen found in each of the four 

 make 57.5 per cent, and tAvo stomachs contained nothing else. Crus- 

 tacean remains, among which were several crabs, were identified in 

 two stomachs, and make the remainder, 42.5 per cent." 



The contents of nine stomachs taken by Stuart T. Danforth (1925) 

 in Porto Rico were examined : 



Dytiscid larvae formed 26.6 per cent of the animal matter, and Hydrophilid 

 larvae, 1.8 per cent; Bloodworms, 5.1 per cent; Planorbia snails, 5 per cent; 

 Fleabeetles 1.1 per cent ; Hydrophilid adults, 3.1 per cent ; Dytiscid adult, 

 0.7 per cent ; grasshoppers, 0.22 per cent ; Bupestrid beetle, 0.55 per cent ; 

 Lycosid spider, 0.55 per cent ; Notonectidae, 1 per cent ; fish scales, 0.33 per 

 cent; Carabid beetle (Stenous sp.), 0.55 per cent; and other beetles, 3.2 

 per cent. 



Behavior. — Either in flight or on the ground the tw T o yellow-legs 

 are so much alike that one is often mistaken for the other, unless a 

 direct comparison in size can be made. William Brewster (1925) has 

 expressed it very well, as follows : 



The summer yellow-legs seems an exact counterpart of the winter in respect 

 to general appearance and behavior. It has the same firm, measured step, 

 when walking about in quest of food ; the same perfection of form and out- 

 lines, and grace of position, when standing erect and watchful ; the same habit 

 of tilting its body and alternately lengthening and shortening its neck with a 

 bobbing motion, when suspicious of danger and about to take wing. Its 

 flight, also, is essentially similar to that of its big cousin, but somewhat slower 

 and more buoyant, and hence not so suggestive of momentum as that of the 

 larger, heavier-bodied bird. 



The lesser yellow-legs is more universally common than the greater 

 and more apt to associate with other spe.ies of small waders, where 

 it towers above them, as it stalks gracefully about on its long legs. It 

 is more apt to be seen in large flocks, though the flocks are seldom 

 compact and are usually much scattered, especially when feeding. 

 And it is much less shy ; although usually rather watchful and wary, 



