TDescriptive List 137 



begin to arrive as early as July and stay as late as October and November. It 

 has been recorded from Beaufort and Pea Island in February, and doubtless a 

 limited number spend the winter along our shores. 



118. Totanus flavipes {GmeL). Yellow-legs. 



Ads. in summer. — Upperparts generally brownish gray, head and neck streaked widi black 

 and wliite; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts sometimes with black centers, spotted or tipped 

 witli whitish or brownish gray; upper tail-coverts white, more or less barred with black, tail 

 varying from white to brow^lish gray, witli numerous black or blackish cross-bars; breast heavily 

 spotted or streaked, and sides barred with black; belly wliite, legs yellow. Ads. and Juv. in 

 winter. — Similar, but upperparts brownish gray, the sides of the feathers with whitish spots; 

 tail-bars grayish; breast hghtly streaked with ashy. L., 10.75; W., 6.40; Tar., 2.05; B., 1.40. 

 (Ch.ap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Rf marks. — This bird closely resembles the Greater YeUow-legs in color, but may always be 

 distinguished by its smaller size. 



Range. — Breeds north of the United States; winters in southern South America. 



Range in North Carolina. — Coastal region during the migrations, also less commonly inland 

 during the spring migration. 



Pig. 99. Yellow-legs. 



Almost all the remarks relating to the habits of the Greater Yellow-legs are 

 applicable to this species. Generally speaking, it is simply a smaller form of the 

 foregoing, vAth which it is often found associated. It is not, however, known to 

 occur with us in winter. 



"A smaller edition of the Greater Yellow-legs, this bird is one of our best known and widely 

 distributed shore birds, occiuring throughout North America, extending generally into South 

 America as far as Patagonia. In the United States the Lesser Yellow-legs is a regular summer 

 visitor to the marshes that Hue the Atlantic coast; arriving early in August, they are among the 

 first of our shore birds to start the procession south. On the coast the salt-water marshes and 

 meadows, where the grass is short, are their favorite h.aunts, and the clear note of a summer 

 Yellow-legs is perhaps the first welcome sound in the early morning heard from the bhnd on the 

 marsh. Soon the buds are in evidence, and, if within hearing distance, can usually be called up 

 to the decoys; if permitted, they drop among the stool and gaze at the wooden snipe in blank 

 surprise. After the fu'st shot the flock often returns, and, if skillfully whistled, hovers over the 

 wounded birds. The readiness with which they court destruction has resulted in their being driven 

 from many of the old-time resorts, and this common, friendly bird may easily become rare. The 

 young of the year migrate along the same com-se as the adults, but appear later, usually about the 

 last week of August. For a short time after tlie first long flights the birds are in poor condition, 

 but they soon fatten on their favorite feeding-grounds, and the dainty flavor of the flesh is highly 

 esteemed. In the summer the Lesser Yellow-legs pass along through the United States, in the 

 interior as well as along the coast. The rctm-n flight, however, in the spring is made by the 

 shortest route to the breeding-grounds, the birds following along the Mississippi Valley and the 

 larger adjacent water-courses, north into the fiff countries. These are reached in Jime, and here 

 they scatter tlu'ough the smaller lakes and rivers of the Arctic regions, breeding on the shores 

 and marshes. The eggs are laid on the ground with hardly the formahty of a nest. At this 



