THE SMALL YELLOW SHANKS. 219 



The Large Yellowshanks are said to breed very 

 commonly on Anticosti. 



About 14 inches long and 25 in extent of wings, bill 2.25 

 and of dark horn-color; color above, ashy-brown or dusky, 

 each feather being edged with white and sub-margined 

 with waves or spots of black; secondaries and tertiaries 

 edged with alternate spots of white and black; head and 

 neck streaked with dusky and white; spot in front of the eye, 

 throat and under parts, white; upper and lower tail- 

 coverts white, crossed with wavy lines of dusky; the bright 

 yellow legs and feet, together with its size, well character- 

 izing the species. 



THE SMALL YELLOWSHANKS. 



Scarcely more than a miniature of the above is the Small 

 Yellow-shanks (Totanus flavipes). Being less than 11 inches 

 long and about 20 in extent, it is very perceptibly smaller; 

 but, except that it is a little darker, it is about the same in 

 form, color and marking, so that the description of the 

 former species answers sufficiently for this, and it has about 

 the same diet, habitat, a'nd habits in general. Audubon 

 reported it as breeding commonly about Pictou, Nova 

 Scotia; his friend, Professor MacCulloch, describes the nest 

 " as placed among the grass on the edges of the rivers and 

 large ponds of the interior." According to Dr. Coues, 

 " the eggs are deposited on the ground, in a little depres- 

 sion, lined with a few dried leaves or grasses. They are 

 three or four in number, narrowly and pointedly pyriform, 

 measuring from 1.58x1-18-1.78x1-15. 

 The ground is a clear clay-color, sometimes tending more 

 to buffy or creamy, sometimes rather to light brown. The 

 marking is bold and heavy, but presents the customary 

 great diversity, some eggs being very heavily splashed with 



