THE WINTER YELLOW-LEGS 177 
of this color in the wing. Bill dusky: Legs 
dull bluish; feet half-webbed, so that if the 
occasion calls for it they can swim, though sel- 
dom is this attempted unless hard pushed. In 
length from fourteen to sixteen inches; extent 
from twenty-four to twenty-six. 
This bird is very noisy and has a piercing, 
far-reaching note from which the name of the 
species has been taken. It is not easy of ap- 
proach, but is wary and restless in the extreme. 
Its food is procured along the muddy edges 
in the same manner and of the same sort as 
makes the menu of the ‘‘yellow-legs.’? The 
nesting habits also are nearly identical with 
those of Totanus. The eggs vary in number 
from three to four, dull greenish in color, 
brown-spotted. 
THE WINTER YELLOW-LEGS. 
(Totanus melanoleucus.) 
The ‘‘Tell-tale,’’ ‘‘Tattler,’’ or ‘‘Winter Yel- 
low-leg Plover,’’ as the various names are 
given him in different localities where he is 
known, is a common visitor in our New England 
marshes, both on the seacoast and on the boggy 
