248 Nichols and Harper, Long Island Shore Birds. [j^y 



with machinelike rapidity, and sometimes travel along the beach at a trot 

 faster than a man's walk. 



The note of this species is a not very loud ket, ket, ket, uttered singly 

 or in a series, and in a slightly complaining tone. We have heard it on a 

 moonlight night from birds flying about over the beach. 



The bold white stripe running lengthwise through the middle of the 

 blackish wing is conspicuous in a steadily flying bird, and serves to distin- 

 guish the species in any of the varying seasonal plumages. 



Totanus melanoleucus. Greater Yellowlegs; Big Yellowleg; 

 Winter Yellowleg; Yelper. — With the exception of a few weeks in 

 June and early July, the Greater Yellowlegs is present on these shores from 

 April to November, or approximately half of each year. It is common on 

 both the spring and the fall migrations, reaching its maximum numbers in 

 the middle of May and in early September. Some exceptionally early 

 spring records are March 9 (Eaton) and March 23, 1903 (Montauk, 

 Braislin), the average date of arrival being about the middle of April. 

 The birds frequently linger into June; several were noted as late as June 

 17 and 18, 1911, at Gardiner's Island (Harper), while Latham mentions 

 June 19 as the latest date at Orient, and Eaton gives a record for June 

 22. The earliest date of arrival on the southward flight is July 3 (Orient, 

 Latham), the average being about two weeks later. The latest fall records 

 are November 24 (Eaton) and November 28, 1904 (Mt. Sinai, Murphy); 

 usually the last birds are seen early in the month. 



This species is one that has fairly held its own on Long Island in recent 

 years, in spite of relentless persecution. As far as one can judge from 

 shooting records, it was scarcely more numerous in the eighties than to-day. 

 And the birds are still commonly observed in flocks of nearly the same size 

 as in the time of Giraud, who wrote, ' They do not usually associate in 

 large flocks, generally roving about in parties of from five to twelve. '^ 

 It is largely by reason of their great watchfulness and wariness that they 

 have survived in their present numbers. Doubtless another factor in their 

 preservation is a habit exhibited by the members of a flock while coming 

 in to decoys; they generally keep well separated, and thus do not expose 

 themselves so fully to wholesale slaughter as do birds that bunch closely. 



The favorite feeding ground of the Greater Yellowlegs is a large pool in 

 the salt marshes (such as shown in Plate IX), where it generally alights and 

 feeds in one or more inches of water. It is found less commonly along the 

 mud-flats bordering the tidal channels, and only rarely upon the outer 

 beach. 



As a flock courses easily but swiftly above the marsh in orderly array^ 

 seeking some new haunt, its members frequently give voice to their loud, 

 ringing whistles: wheu-wheu-wheu, or wheu-wheu-wheu, whexi-wheu, in 

 series of three or more notes. ' The hunter in his blind gives a whistled 

 imitation of the far-reaching sound, and eagerly scans the air for a glimpse 

 of the oncoming birds. They fly up the wind, responding now and then 

 to his call, and presently catch sight of the stool. If the collection of tin 



