242 ZOOLOGY. 



black; primary quills white at base, anil tipped with brownish black; secondaries white, spotted with browniBh black; tail 

 ashy wliite, the two middle feathers strongly tinged with ashy; others spotted with dark ashy brown. Bill dark bluish 

 brown; lighter at base; legs light blue. Younger. — Entire plumage spotted, and transversely banded with brownish black. 



Total length about 15 inches; wing, SJ; tail, 3\; bill about 2J; tarsus about 2J inches. 



Bab. — Entire temperate regions of North America; South America. 



I obtained a specimen of the willet at San Francisco, California, where they are qiiite com- 

 mon in the markets during the autumn, winter, and spring. From their abundance in California 

 I have no doubt that Dr. Townsend is correct in assigning this bird a place in the Oregon fauna. 

 Unfortunately, I myself have never obtained a specimen north of San Francisco. — S. 



Probably rare on the coast of Washington Territory, though sportsmen have told me they 

 shot it. I never obtained a specimen. — C. 



GAMBETTA MELANOLEUCA, (Gm.) Bon. 



Tell Tale Tattler; Stone Snipe) Greater Yellow-Ijegg. 



Scolopax melanoleucM, Gmeli.v, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 659. 



Gamhetta melanoleucn, BoN. Comptes Rendus, Sept., 1S56. — B.\ird & Cassin, Gen, Rep. Birds, 731. 



Scolopax vociferw, Wilson, Am. Orn, VII, 1813, 57; pi. Iviii. 



Totanm vod/enu, Alio. Syn. 241.— 1b. Birds Araer. V, 1842, 316; pi. 345. 

 Sp. Cii — Bill longer than the head, rather slender, curved towards the tip; wings rather long, first quill longest; tail 

 short; neck and legs long; toes moderate, margined and flattened underneath, connected at base by membranes, the larger 

 of which unites the outer and middle toe; hind toe small; claws short, blunt; grooves in both mandibles extending about 

 half their length. Entire upper parts cinereous of various shades, dark in manys pecimens in full plumage, generally light 

 with white lines on the head and neck and with spots and edgings of dull white on the other upper parts; lower back 

 brownish black; rump and upper tail coverts white, generally with more or less imperfect transverse narrow bands of brownish 

 black; under parts white, with longitudinal narrow stripes on the neck and transverse crescent lanceolate and sagittate spots 

 and stripes on the breast and sides; abdomen pure white; quills brownish black with a purplish lustre, shaft of first primary 

 white, secondaries and tertiaries tipped and with transverse bars and spots of ashy white; tail white, with transverse narrow 

 bands of brownish black, wider and darker on the two middle feathers; bill brownish black, lighter at the base; legs yellow ; 

 iris brown; bill giayish black. 



Total length about 14 inches; extent, 23J; wing, 7J to 8; tail, 3J to 3^; bill, 2j; tarsus, 2 J inches. 

 Hab. — Entire temperate regions of North America; Mexico. 



The (/real yeUoiv-hg tattler I found pretty generally distributed throughout the countrj' — 

 obtaining specimens in the remote interior on the Bitter Root stream of the Rocky mountains, 

 and also on Puget Sound in the vicinity of the sea-coast. This bird, in the last-named locality, 

 is quite abundant during the spring and autumn, where it is found both on fresh water margins 

 and also on the salt marshes and tide prairies at the mouths of the various rivers emptying into 

 the sound. It is there, in common with the gray snipe, (31. griseus,) known to the Nisqually 

 Indians by the name of Ky-yo-e-yah, a word intended to represent the cry of this bird as it 

 strikes the Indian ear. The habit of these aborigines of naming birds and beasts after their 

 cries is quite common on the northwest coast. — S. 



The yellow-leg snipe is common near the coast in summer, and I think some remain during 

 the winter. — C. 



RHYACOPHILUS SOLITARIUS, (Wils.) Cassin. 



Solitary Sandpiper. 



Tringa solitaria, Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, 1813, 53; pi. Iviii. 



Totanus solUarius, AuD. Syn. 1839, 242.— Ib. Birds Am. V, 1842, 309; pi. 343. 



