402 GAME BIEDS OF CALIFOENIA 



white; chin white; whole I)a('k ashy brown with dark shafts and whitish feather 

 ti])pings; rump, upper tail coverts and tail as in summer; outer surface of 

 closed wing, ashy brown, the feathers having dark shafts and white marginal 

 spots; under surface white, the throat and upper chest pale ashy, narrowly 

 streaked with dull brown; a few indistinct cross bars of ashy brown on flank 

 feathers and outer under tail coverts. Males: Total length 13.65-14.60 inches 

 (346-371 mm.) (four specimens from California and Georgia) ; folded wing 

 6.97-7.64 (177-194); bill along culmen 2.00-2.21 (50.8-56.0); tarsus 2.19-2.58 

 (55.7-65.5) (ten specimens from California). Females: Total length 13.25- 

 14.50 (336-368) (four specimens from California and Georgia); folded wing 

 7.37-7.84 (187-199); bill along culmen 2.03-2.28 (51.6-57.8); tarsus 2.32-2.56 

 (59.0-65.1) (ten specimens from California). JuvenUe plumage: Similar to that 

 of adults in summer, but upper surface dark brown, with a faint greenish 

 iridescence, and with much less extensive light markings, thes6 being marginal 

 only and tinged with buffy; markings on throat, sides, and lower tail coverts, 

 dull brown. Natal plumage: Not known to us. 



Marks for field identification — Medium large size, slender body (espe- 

 cially noticeable in flight), long slender bill, mottled back (in summer plumage), 

 white upper tail coverts, and extremely long and slender yellow legs. Dis- 

 tinguished from Lesser Yellow-legs at a distance only by its large size; in 

 hand minor plumage differences can be discerned, such as presence of fine pale 

 marblings on inner surface of flight feathers, and less extensive barring on 

 under surface of body. Voice unmistakable after once learned. 



Voice — A rather penetrating, insistent, yet mellow, whistled series of notes, 

 all on one pitch, set off in three's and two's: ivJieu-u'heu-ivheu, wheu-iclieu. 



Nest — On ground, near a marsh or on the bank of a stream (Eeed, 1904, p. 

 120); "a slight depression in the ground . . . lined sparsely with grass" 

 (Elliot, 1895, p. 117). 



Eggs — 3 to 4, pear-shape<l, measuring in inches, 1.66 to 1.97 by 1.16 to 1.36 

 (in millimeters, 42.0 to 50.0 by 29.5 to 34.5), and averaging 1.84 by 1.28 (46.7 

 by 32.6) (nine eggs, three sets', in U. S. National Museum); color grayish white, 

 boldly splashed with several shades of brown, and with lilac (Reed, 1904, 

 p. 120). 



General distribution — North and South America. Breeds in northern North 

 America probably between latitudes 50° and 60°; the only authentic breeding 

 refeords are said to be from British Columbia as far south as Clinton, and from 

 Ungava; winters from central California, Texas, Louisiana and Georgia south 

 to southern end of South America; in migration occurs throughout the inter- 

 vening area (Cooke, 1910, pp. 54-55). 



Distribution in California — Fairly common spring and fall migrant through- 

 out the state; winter visitant in limited numbers in the San Joaquin and 

 Imperial valleys, and near the seacoast from the vicinity of Monterey Baj' 

 southward. Recorded from Lone Pine, east of the Sierras, in December. Late 

 northward migrants and early southbound birds almost span the summer, but 

 no breeding records are known. 



The Greater Yellow-legs bears an unusually apt name ; for it is the 

 larger one of two species of shore birds which are both easily recog- 

 nizable by the yellowish color as well as great length of their legs. On 

 a marsh or elsewhere in the vicinity of water where other birds are 

 present, the Yellow-legs, by their shrill notes, appear to give warning 



