FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 399 



The species breeds in the north from central Alberta and southern 

 Manitoba south to Montana and western Minnesota. It is found in 

 winter on the Pacific coast from California to Chile. Others winter 

 from the southern and southeastern coasts of the United States 

 south to Mexico and British Honduras. On the return flight north- 

 ward they are recorded occasionally in the West Indies. There are 

 no reports as yet from the Caribbean coast of Panama. 



TOT ANUS FLAVIPES (Gmelin): Lesser Yellowlegs; Playero Chillon Chico 



Scolopax flavipes Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 659. (New York.) 



A slender-bodied sandpiper, of medium size, with long, bright 

 yellow legs. 



Description. — Length 240 to 250 mm. Breeding plumage, head and 

 hindneck light gray, streaked with dusky brown ; back and scapulars 

 brownish gray, spotted irregularly with black and smaller marks of 

 white; rump, upper tail coverts, and tail white barred with grayish 

 black; wing coverts and secondaries brownish gray, edged with 

 white and barred indistinctly with grayish black; primaries black; 

 underneath white with f oreneck and upper breast with narrow streaks, 

 and sides, underwing coverts, and under tail coverts with bars of dull 

 black. 



Winter plumage, gray above, in some with back and wing coverts 

 spotted lightly with dusky and white ; foreneck and chest light gray, 

 lightly streaked. 



Measurements (from Ridgway, I.e., p. 338). — Males, wing 149- 

 163 (153.5), tail 61-67 (62.8), exposed culmen 35-38 (36.4), tarsus 

 45.5-55.5 (50) mm. 



Females, wing 149.5-157 (155.8), tail 55-66 (63.2), exposed cul- 

 men 30-39 (35.5), tarsus 46.5-52 (50.3) mm. 



Migrant from the north. Common on muddy shores, and to a lesser 

 extent along the lower, more open, lowland courses of the larger 

 rivers ; Isla Coiba. Present from August to April, rarely later. 



A few lesser yellowlegs appear in early August, but the majority 

 arrive later. They are found singly, or a few together, feeding on 

 tidal mud flats, about pools in wet meadows, or less often along the 

 sand and gravel bars on the broad courses of rivers. They range 

 on both coasts, but apparently are attracted only casually to the 

 offshore islands, as my only record in such localities is of one seen 

 on February 2, 1956, on Isla Coiba. 



The yellow legs identify this bird and its larger companion, the 

 greater yellowlegs, from other shorebirds. The present species calls 

 quickly when startled, a shrill whew or whew whew. 



