92 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [rol.Y. 



ceeding spring. It does not breed anywhere in this region, and I 

 was greatly surprised at meeting with the bird so far south in May ; 

 though it may spend the winters further south than this place, still it is 

 essentially a bird of high northern latitudes, and usually only enters the 

 northern portion of the United States during the winter. 



TOTANUS SEMiPALMATUS, (Gm.) Temm. — Willet. 



Sexes are .ilike in color. 



Toes witli two subequal webs ; legs bluish or dark ; bill straight, comparatively stout, 

 grooved little, if any, more than haK its length ; toes with two conspicuous basal 

 webs : 12-16 ; wing 7-8 ; tail 2^-3 ; bill 2-2f . In summer, gray above, with numerous 

 black marks, white below, the jugulum streaked, the breast, sides, and under tail- 

 coverts barred or with arrow-shaped marks of dusky (in winter, and in young birds 

 all these dark marks few or wanting, except on jugulum) ; upper tail-coverts, most of 

 themiddle quills, andbasalhalf of outer quills white ; ends of outer quills, their coverts, 

 lining of wings, and armpits black ; bill bluish or dark. 



This bird arrives about April 29, and remains until September 13, in con- 

 siderable numbers ; breeds here; it seems to feed to some extent on fish, 

 and the flesh is not x)articularly desirable as food. A strange habit the 

 old birds have of j)ushing forward the young when there is danger ; I 

 remember once seeing a flock containing about a hundred birds, of 

 which probably twenty-five were old ones, quietly feeding on the edge 

 of a lake, but the instant the birds were approached they all took to 

 flight; and tlie old ones immediately arranged themselves on the out- 

 side furtliest from me, leaving the young between themselves and the 

 source of danger, and in this order they were permitted to take their 

 departure without molestation. 



ToTANUS MELANOLEUCUS, (Gm.) ViciU. — Greater Telltale. 



Sexes are alike in color. 



Feet with very small web between inner and middle toes ; legs yellow or green ; bill 

 straight or slightly bent upward, very slender, grooved haK its length or less, black ; 

 legs long and slender. In summer, ashy -brown above, varied with black and speckled 

 with whitish ; below, white, lower throat streaked, and breasts, sides, and under tail- 

 coverts speckled or barred with blackish ; these latter marks few or wanting in winter 

 and in the young; upper tail-coverts white, with dark bars; tail-feathers marbled or 

 barred with ashy or white; quills blackish. Large: length over 12; wing over 7; 

 tail 3 or more ; bill 2 or more. 



Arrives during the last week in April or the first part of May, and is 

 seen in considerable numbers for a week or more while passing north. 

 Eeturns in numbers in the tall, and departs about the same time as T. 

 flavij)es. 



ToTANUS ELAVIPES, (Gm.) YMW.—Lesser Telltale. 



Sexes are alike in color. 



A miniature of the last ; colors precisely the same ; legs comparatively longer ; bill 

 grooved rather further : length under 12 ; wing under 7 ; tail under 3 ; bill under 2. 



These two Telltales occur throughout Dakota during the spring and 

 fall migrations, and the Lesser certainly, if not the Greater also, breeds 

 in the northern part of the Territory. 



This bird arrives at Fort Sisseton early in May (sometimes in April), 



