1 82 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



marsh, but it is occasionally found on the beach, and it also alights with Curlew, 

 on the hills. I have never been so fortunate as to find the bird, and my notes 

 are derived from the observations of my brother and of Mr. T. C. Wilson. 

 On September 18th, 1900, a flock of fifteen was seen at Eagle Hill and five were 

 shot, and again, eight or ten were shot in the sloughs there out of one flock in 

 September, 1902. Mr. T. S. Bradlee shot two there on September 3d, 1902. 

 My brother, Mr. W. S. Townsend, shot an adult on the beach at Ipswich on 

 August 29th, 1 89 1, and a young bird on September 1 8th, 1900. Both are in 

 my collection. My latest dates in the autumn are of a bird shot by my brother 

 on October 22d, 1902, at Ipswich, and one shot at Newburyport, on November 

 7th, 1904. After the middle of September, mostly young birds are found. 



Mr. Wilson describes the note as peculiar and easily recognized : a low 

 double note, frequently emitted as the bird comes in to the decoys. The white 

 rump contrasting with the dark tail and back is a conspicuous mark. 



113 [254] Totanus melanoleucus (Gmel.). 

 Greater Yellow-legs ; Greater Tattler ; " Winter Yellow-legs " ; " Winter." 



Common transient visitor; (March 27) April 19 to June 14 (June 28, July 

 6) ; July 20 to November 10. 



A few birds, not breeding, occasionally spend the summer. In the spring 

 migrations, the Greater Yellow-legs is rather more abundant than in the autumn. 



This beautiful and interesting bird is rarely to be found on the beach, pre- 

 fering the sloughs of the marsh or the muddy creeks, where it can catch small 

 fish in the water and probe the soft mud with its long bill. Persistently sought 

 by the gunner, eagerly responding to the easily imitated call, and offering on 

 its approach to the decoys an extremely easy shot, the Greater Yellow-legs still 

 remains common, although its numbers have been greatly reduced in the last 

 twenty years. Like all shore birds, its numbers on the coast vary greatly in 

 different years, owing not so much to the actual number of birds as to the direc- 

 tion of the flight, whether along the coast or farther out to sea. This, in turn, 

 depends largely on the weather conditions. As an illustration of the immense 

 numbers of birds that are sometimes killed, it may be stated that 463 Greater 

 Yellow-legs were sent from Newburyport and vicinity on one day, October 

 1 ith, 1904, to a single stall in Boston Market. 



In flying, the Greater Yellow-legs is a conspicuous object. Its long yellow 

 legs are extended out behind, its long neck and bill in front, while its white rump 



