BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 133 



associated with other flocks of its family, and so far as I have 

 been able to learn, has only been obtained in fall migrations. 

 I know nothing of its habits to distinguish it from the other 

 species of its genus. The description of the species is as 

 follows : 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Smaller than the preceding; bill longer than the head; both 

 mandibles grooved, slightly recurved; wings long; legs mod- 

 erate; membranes uniting the outer and middle toe large, 

 Upper parts brownish- black, with dots and transverse bars of 

 pale reddish on the back; rump brownish-black; upper tail 

 coverts white; wing coverts and shorter quills dark cinereous; 

 primaries brownish black; under parts yellowish-red, with 

 transverse bars of brownish-black on the breast and sides, and 

 under tail coverts, and frequently with the feathers on the 

 abdomen widely tipped with white; tail black with the base 

 white and narrowly tipped with white; under wing coverts and 

 axillary feathers black; shafts of primaries white; bill pale 

 yellowish at base, tip brownish-black; legs bluish-brown; iris 

 brown 



Length, 15; wing, 8; tail 3; bill, 2.75 to 3.50; tarsus, 2.50. 



Habitat, eastern, northern and middle America. 



TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS (Gmelin). (254.) 



GREATER YELLOW-LEGS. 



This bird is a typical wader, being almost constantly in the 

 puddles, pools and ditches in spring, in quest of its food, found 

 mostly in those places. 



They rarely resort to strands and sandy beaches except in 

 passing from one of the former localities to another. It is gen- 

 erally about the 10th of April, when they appear about our 

 ponds and muddy lakes in considerable numbers, for a time, 

 and then disappear until the latter part of August when they 

 come back in force. In their fall migration, they not only 

 remain longer but resort in large flocks to the fields, where 

 wheat and corn have been grown, in which they find an abun- 

 dance of larvae, worms, and various species of insects in large 

 numbers. They are the terror of the sportsman, for as soon 

 as they discover anything suggestive of a man or a gun, they 

 set up a loud, shrill noise that awakens every game bird in 

 the region for a quarter of a mile around in all directions. The 

 "quack" by the ducks as they take to wing before having seen 

 any danger themselves, is the unwelcome farewell to the next 

 hour's sport. It takes no ordinary measure of strategy to bag 

 them after they have once been flushed. 



