574 YELLOWSHANK. 



the weapon you carry, and, as if convinced that you are bent on mischief, 

 spring up, rise obliquely lo some height, emit louder notes, and with 

 continued flappings pass around you, or remove to some distant place. 

 Their long yellow legs, vt^hich are stretched out behind, are quite conspi- 

 cuous when they are on wing. Should you bring one to the ground 

 wounded, it walks off leisurely, vibrates its body, and emits plaintive 

 cries ; and should one fall into the water under similar circumstances, it 

 paddles its way towards the nearest shore with considerable speed. If you 

 approach it, it may immerse its head, but it cannot dive to any depth. 



In very dry weather, I have observed this species on the uplands 

 searching for grasshoppers and insects. It has been alleged that when 

 one is wounded, its companions hover around so as to be easily shot ; but 

 this I have never observed, for although they are perhaps less shy than 

 the Tell-tales, on such occasions, I never found one of them to remain ; 

 they seemed, on the contrary, to be well aware of the danger, and would 

 fly quite out of sight, rising high in the air, and pursuing a direct course, 

 emitting cries at intervals. 



Along the shores of the sea, they are now and then seen in company 

 with other species, although they cannot be said actually to associate with 

 them. In autumn they become fat, and by many are considered good eat- 

 ing, although they always have a kind of fishy taste not at all agreeable 

 to my palate. Their food consists of diminutive fishes, shrimps, worms, 

 and aquatic insects. 



I have represented one of these birds on the fore ground of a little 

 piece of water a few miles distant from Charleston in South Carolina, on 

 the borders of which, in the company of my kind friend John Bachman 

 and others, I have spent many a pleasant hour, while resting after fatigu- 

 ing rambles in the surrounding woods. 



ScoLOPAX FLAViPES, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 723 Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of 



Birds of the United States, p. 324. 

 Yellowshanks Snipe, Scolopax flavipes, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 53. 



pi. 58. fig. 4. 

 ToTANus FLAVIPES, Yellowshanks Tatler, Swains, and RichMrds. Fauna Bor. 



Amer. part ii. p. 390. 

 Yellowshanks Tatler, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 152. 



Adult Male in Summer. Plate CCLXXXVIII. Fig. 1. 

 Bill a little longer than the head, very slender, subcylindrical, straight, 

 flexible, compressed ;it the base, the point rather depressed and obtuse. 



