GREATEE YELLOW-LEGS 407 



the day. One series of notes, uttered only during periods of fancied 

 security, is peculiar and unquestionably a love song" (Rhoads, 1893, 

 p. 36). The habit of the male of watching from the top of a tall tree, 

 and the disinclination of the other bird to alight in the presence of an 

 intruder, make it extremely difficult and in many instances impossible 

 to find the nest. 



Swarth (1911, p. 53) states that on a wooded island in southeastern 

 Alaska in late April he saw males of this species "going through 

 various courting antics, posing with upraised quivering wings, or 

 running in circles on the sand bars, around the objects of their atten- 

 tion, and incessantly uttering the shrill whistle peculiar to the 

 species." 



The food of the Greater Yellow-legs so far as known consists of 

 insects and their larvae, snails, crustaceans, worms and small fish. 

 Beck (MS) at Los Baiios, found beetles and crickets, respectively, 

 in two stomachs examined, and noted further that in that locality the 

 birds fed principally on ground where the water was fresh. A bird 

 taken on a marsh near Santa Barbara, August 29, 1911, was "cram- 

 med to the bill with minnows about one inch long" (Howell, MS). 



In the fall Yellow-legs become quite fat and are esteemed a delicacy 

 by some persons, while others rate them at all times as second class 

 and much inferior to such birds as the Wilson Snipe. Undoubtedly, 

 as Eaton (1910, p. 324) points out, the flavor of the flesh of any 

 particular individual is probably determined by the nature of its food 

 for some time previous ; birds which have been feeding inland on 

 insects and worms are likely to be of better flavor than those which 

 have been living along the seacoast and enjoying a diet of salt water 

 animal life. 



There is no direct evidence to show that the numbers of Greater 

 Yellow-legs occurring in California have been noticeably reduced of 

 recent years ; but considering that elsewhere they have helped fill the 

 bag of the market hunter along with other shore birds, and that in 

 previous years, and indeed even until within comparatively recent 

 times, shore birds were sold in the markets of our California cities, it 

 is reasonable to suppose that some diminution in numbers has occur- 

 red. Its rather solitary habits, as contrasted with close-flocking 

 species, prevent wholesale destruction. The noisy nature of this 

 species may also have proven an important factor in its conservation 

 and also in saving the other wading birds which frequent our shores 

 at the same seasons. Because of this last fact, and also because it 

 is esteemed a table delicacy by some, the Greater Yellow-legs should 

 be so treated that its numbers may be maintained from year to year 

 and possibly augmented, thus serving good economic purpose. 



