788 TOTANUS 



Hob. Central and Southern Europe, chiefly in the eastern 

 portions ; a rare straggler to the north central parts of Europe, 

 but has occurred in Heligoland ; Africa in winter, as far south 

 as the Orange River ; Asia, east to Japan, north to Dauria ; in 

 winter ranging to Manchuria, Burma, India, Ceylon, the Malay 

 Archipelago, and Australia. 



In general appearance and habits it is a miniature Green- 

 shank. It frequents inland ponds, rivers, and marshes, and is 

 as a rule not a shy bird, but sprightly and elegant in its 

 movements. It usually breeds near, but occasionally at some 

 distance from water, in grassy places, its nest resembling that 

 of its congeners, and its eggs, 4 in number, are usually laid in 

 June or July, and are ochreous buff, sometimes with a faint 

 olivaceous tinge, with pale purplish brown shell-markings and 

 rich dark brown surface spots and blotches, and measure about 

 1-49 by 111. 



1088. YELLOWSHANK. 

 TOTANUS FLAVIPES. 



Totanus flavipes (Gmel.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 659 (1788) ; Dresser, ix. p. 377, 

 pi. 715 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxiv. p. 431 ; Ridgway, p. 166 ; 

 Saunders, p. 613 ; Lilford, v. p. 116, pi. 50; Poynting, p. 215, 

 pi. 45. 



$ ad. (Wisconsin). Crown, nape, and hind-neck blackish brown, 

 streaked with white ; upper parts blackish brown, clearly marked and 

 spotted with white and buffy grey ; upper tail-coverts white, barred with 

 blackish ; quills blackish brown, the shaft of the first white, of the rest 

 brown ; middle tail-feathers dark ashy grey, the rest white, all barred with 

 blackish ; under parts white, the sides of head, neck, and breast streaked 

 with blackish, those on the lower neck and breast broader ; flanks barred 

 with blackish ; the axillaries with ashy brown ; bill greenish black ; legs 

 yellow ; iris dark brown. Culmen 1/6, wing 6*2, tail 2-6, tarsus 2'0 inch. 

 Sexes alike. In winter the upper parts are darker and the markings 

 reduced to a few whitish spots ; upper tail-coverts, chin, and upper throat 

 nearly white ; flanks less marked with greyish brown. 



Hob. North America, from the Hudson's Bay Territory, and 

 Alaska, where it breeds, to Patagonia in winter ; has occurred 

 in South Greenland, and is a rare straggler to England, where 

 two authentic examples have been obtained. 



In habits it does not differ from its allies. It breeds in the 

 high north of America, the nest being a mere depression in the 



