6*4 VELLOWSHAXK. 



occurrence to the west of the Rocky Mountains. It visits the 

 Bermudas, Bahamas, and West Indies generally, as well as the 

 mainland of tropical America, wintering as far south as the Chupat 

 valley in Patagonia — where Durnford found it common during 

 November — and also in Chile. 



According to Messrs. Kennicott, IMacFarlane and others, the nest 

 is a simple depression scantily lined with dead leaves &c., near the 

 edge of a marsh or pool. The eggs are 4 in number, and those 

 which I examined in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington were 

 creamy-buff, boldly blotched with chocolate-brown and umber : 

 measurements i"65 by i*i in. Six examples are figured in Poynt- 

 ing's 'Eggs of the Limicola;.' The food consists of insects and 

 their larvss, small crustaceans, worms &c. ; and in its general habits 

 this species resembles other Sandpipers. 



The adult in summer has the crown and nape greyish-white 

 streaked with black ; mantle ash-brown with ragged blotches of 

 black which have a tendency to form regular transverse bars on the 

 scapulars and secondaries; upper tail-coverts pure white with dusky 

 bars; tail-feathers white, with numerous ash-coloured bands — broadest 

 on the central pairs — across both webs ; chin and neck white, the 

 latter thickly streaked with wood-brown; under-parts white; axillaries 

 white, barred tvith ash-brown ; bill black and very slender ; legs and 

 feet bright yellow. Length 1075 in. ; wing 6'4 in. In autumn the 

 streaks are almost absent from the head, neck and throat. The 

 young resemble the adults in winter-plumage, but ar£ more or less 

 tinged with pale brown on the upper parts. 



As the immature Redshank, which has pale yellow legs, has several 

 times been mistaken for the Yellowshank, it may be pointed out 

 that T.flavipes has a much more slender bill, a longer tarsus, and 

 distinctly barred axillaries. 



On May 13th 1889 Vingoe's collection was sold at Stevens' 

 auction-rooms, when the specimen of the Yellowshank from 

 Marazion obtained the price of ^5. 155-. 6^., and the Solitary Sand- 

 piper mentioned on p. 611 went for j[^\it- i4-^- 



