BIRDS OF NEW YORK 323 



Totanus melanoleucus (Gmelin) 

 Greater Yellow-legs 



Plate 36 



Scolopax melanoleuca Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1788. Ed. i. 2: 659 

 Totanus melanoleucus DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 250, fig. 221 



lA. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 254 



idi'anus, Ital. totano, a kind of snipe; melanoleu'cus, Gr. ficVas, black; 



Aewcds, white 



Description. Large; bill longer than head, bent very slightly upward 

 from the middle, the nasal groove extending nearly half way to tip; legs 

 very long; tarsus one and one half times the middle toe; legs yellow; bill 

 black; plumage blackish, white and grayish brown; rump and tail coverts 

 white, imperfectly barred; tail varying from white to gray, barred with 

 dusky; primaries blackish, shaft of first white; flanks and under tail coverts 

 barred with dusky ; head and neck streaked with white and dusky. Summer: 

 Upper parts varied with black, gray and white, the former quite prominent; 

 under parts white spotted and baiTed with blackish, except on the belly. 

 Winter: Upper parts brownish gray spotted with white and dusky on 

 the edges of the feathers ; under parts white, lightly streaked with grayish on 

 the jugulum and breast. 



Length 12. 15-15 inches; extent 23-26; wing 7.5-7.85; tarsus 2.5-2.75; 

 middle toe and claw 1.7; length from tip of bill to end of outstretched 

 toes 16-18 inches; bill 2.2-2.3; weight 6-10 ounces. 



Range and migration. This species breeds from Minnesota and the 

 Gulf of St Lawrence through boreal America, and migrates southward 

 both on the seacoast and through the interior, wintering from the gulf 

 coast to Patagonia. With us it is a common migrant. The spring migra- 

 tions begin from the 9th to the last of March or the 5th of April on the 

 coast, and end from the ist to the 5th of June, stragglers sometimes appear- 

 ing as late as the 2 2d of June. The return movement begins from the loth 

 to the 25th of July, continues through August and September, and ends 

 from the 20th of October to the 15th of November. Through the interior 

 of the State this species rarely appears before the 12th of April, is most 

 often seen during the latter part of April, but is occasionally observed 

 throughout the month of May. Along the lakes the fall migration com- 

 monly begins about the middle of August and continues till late in 



