SCOLOPACIDJ* THE SNIPE FAMILY. 61 



Totanus flavipes (Gmel.) 



YELLOW-LEGS. 



Popular synonyms. Yellow-leg Snipe; Little Cucu (Plymouth Bay. Mass.). 

 Scolpax flavipes GMEL. 8. N. ed. 13. i, 1788, 659. Wn.s. Am. Orn. vii. 1813. 56. pi. 58, flg. 4. 

 Totanus flavipes VnmL. Nouv. Diet, vi, 1816, 410. Sw. & RICH. F. B.-A. ii, 1831. 390. 

 NUTT. Man. ii, 1834, 152. AUD. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 573; v, 586, pi. 228; Synop. 1839. 243; 

 B. Am. v, 1843, 313, pi. 344. COUES, Key, 1872, 259; Check List, 1874, No. 433; 2d ed. 1882, 

 No. 634; Birds N. W. 1874, 497.-EiDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 549; Man. N. Am B. 

 1887, 166. B. B. & B. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 273. A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 255. 

 Gambetta flavipes BONAP. 1856. CASS. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 732. BAIED, Cat. N. 

 Am. B. 1859, No. 540. 



"HAS. The whole of America, breeding in the cold-temperate and subarctic districts of 

 the northern continent; migrating south in winter to Argentine Bepublic and Chili. Much 

 rarer in the western than in the eastern province of North America. Accidental in Europe. 



"Sp. CHAE. Very similar to T. melanoleucus, but smaller and more slender. Bill rather 

 longer than the head, straight, slender, compressed; wing long, pointed; tail short ; legs 

 long, lower half of the tibias naked ; toes moderate, slender margined, the outer and middle 

 united at base. 



"Adult, summer plumage. Above, ashv, mixed with ragged blotches of black, this hav- 

 ing a tendency to form regular transverse bars on the secondaries and scapulars. Crown 

 and nape with longitudinal streaks of black on a grayish white ground ; upper tail-coverts 

 pure white, with transverse bars of dusky; tail white, the middle feathers ashy, and all 

 with transverse, rather narrower, bars of ash. Primaries and their coverts plain dusky 

 black, Lower parts white, the jugulum and breast densely streaked with blackish, and the 

 sides marked with more transverse markings of the same color. 



"Winter plumage. Above, ashy, sometimes nearly unbroken, but generally slightly 

 variegated, especially on the scapulars and wing-coverts, with transverse spots of dusky, 

 and whitish edging and dots along the margins of the feathers. Streaks almost absent from 

 the head, neck, and jugulum, which are nearly uniform light ashy; the chin, throat, and 

 supraloral stripe white, In other respects like the summer plumage. Young. Like the 

 winter adult, but the light markings above more or less tinged with pale brown or dull 

 ochraceous. 



"Total length about 10.50-11. 00 inches; extent, 20.00-21.00 ; wing, 5.50-6.50; culmen, 1.30-1.55; 

 tarsus, 2,00. Bill black; iris dark brown; legs and feet bright yellow." (Water B. N. Am.) 



This species is exceedingly similar to T. melanoleucus in plum- 

 age, but differs in the following particulars: in the summer 

 adult the upper parts are more transversely spotted, with a less 

 amount of black, while the lower parts are without well-defined 

 transverse spots or bars of black; in the winter plumage, the 

 head, neck, and jugulum are nearly uniform ashy, instead of 

 distinctly streaked. 



This species is essentially a "small edition" of the Greater Yel- 

 low-legs, or Tell-tale (T. melcmoleucus) so far as appearance is 

 concerned; and in its general habits is not conspicuously dif- 

 ferent. 



