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TELL-TALE GODWIT. 71 
when they were, at the commencement of my calls, almost half a mile 
distant. Nay, I have sometimes seen them so gentle, that on my 
killing several in a flock, the rest would only remove a few yards. 
I have always found that the cries of this bird were louder and 
more frequent during the period of its breeding, when scarcely any 
birds were in the vicinity. I therefore conclude that its cries are then 
more intended to draw you from the spot where its nest is concealed, 
than for any other purpose, as on such occasions the bird either moves 
off on foot, or flies away and alights at a short distance from the place 
where its treasure lies. 
When in Labrador, I found these birds breeding, two or three 
pairs together, in the delightful quiet valleys bounded by rugged hills 
of considerable height, and watered by limpid brooks. These val- 
leys exhibit, in June and July, the richest verdure, luxuriant grasses 
of various species growing here and there in separate beds many yards 
in extent, while the intervening spaces, which are comparatively bare, 
are of that boggy nature so congenial to the habits of these species. 
In one of those pleasing retreats my son found a pair of Tell-tales, in 
the month of June, both of which were procured. The female was 
found to contain a full-formed egg, and some more of the size of peas. 
The eggs are four, pyriform, 2} inches long, 14! in their greatest 
breadth, pale greenish-yellow, marked with blotches of umber and pale 
purplish-grey. 
The plumage of this bird has a very different appearance in autumn 
and winter from that which it presents at the approach of the breeding 
season. This has led some students of Nature in the United States 
to suppose, that there exist two nearly allied species; but this, I am 
confident, is not the case. The female is larger than the male, but 
only in a slight degree. 
Dr RicHarpson has found this species on the Saskatchewan and 
Dr Townsenp on the Columbia River. 
ToraNnus MELANOLEUCUS, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 324. 
TEeLL-TALE Gopwit or Snipe, Scolopax vociferus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. 
p. 57, pl. 58, fig. 5. 
TELL-TALE, or GREATER YELLOW-Suanks, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 148. 
ToraNnus vociFEeRusS, TELL-TaLE, Richards. and Swains. Faun. Bor. Amer. vol. ii. 
p- 389. 
