THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 135 



254 Totanus melanoleucus (Gmelin). 

 Greater Yellow-legs, Tell-tale. 



Adult* in spring. Length, 12.15-15. Wing, 7.50-7.75. Above, blackish, 

 mottled all over with white or grayish ; rump, white, with dusky tips to some 

 of the feathers ; tail, barred black and white ; under parts, white ; neck and 

 chest streaked, sides barred with dusky. 



Adults and young in autumn. Similar, but gray above spotted with white, 

 spots below much less distinct. 



Common transient, occurring April 20th to May 16th, and again 

 July 15th to October, some lingering until November. Mr. H. W. 

 Hand tells me that the main flight at Cape May is in October. The 

 latest records we have are one shot by Dr. W. L. Abbott at Five Mile 

 Beach November 7th, 1877, and another shot by Mr. Ernest Schluter 

 at League Island, on the Delaware, November 9th, 1897. 1 



I saw two at the mouth of Pensauken Creek, on the Delaware, May 

 30th, 1897, and Mr. W. L. Whitaker took one on Tacony Creek, Pa., 

 May llth, 1895. Mr. Babson 2 also finds it occasionally at Princeton 

 in August and September, and it has been seen at other points inland. 



An idea seems to have been prevalent that the Greater Yellow-legs 

 bred in New Jersey. Wilson and Audubon were so informed by 

 natives at Egg Harbor, and Turnbull gives the species as a summer 

 bird, without comment. Dr. C. C. Abbott 3 includes both species of 

 Yellow-legs and the Solitary Sandpiper as breeders in Mercer county, 

 but, like many other statements made in the same paper, there is a 

 lack of definite data and no confirmation. Mr. T. Morgan 4 records a 

 nest at Somerville, N. J. ? June 9th, 1883, but his detailed description 

 shows that it belonged to some other species. 



As a matter of fact, the bird has never been found nesting within 

 many hundred miles of New Jersey. 



1 Fowler, Cassinia, 1903, p. 53. 



2 Birds of Princeton, p. 43. 



3 Amer. Nat., IV., p. 548. 



4 O. and O., VIII., p. 67. 



