232 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



its distribution. Its habits do not differ in any important respect from those of 

 its allies. It frequents moors and tundras during summer, and in autumn and 

 winter muddy creeks, streams, and the shores of lakes and pools, and frequently 

 wades in the shallows. The note of this species is described as an oft-repeated 

 shrill cry, which is imitated by the sportsman, who thus lures the bird within 

 shot whilst on its spring or autumn flights. The food of the Yellow-legged Sand- 

 piper consists of insects and their larvae, worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and, it is 

 said, small fish. In the north the return migration begins in July and lasts 

 through August and September. 



Nidification. — The nest of the Yellow-legged Sandpiper is placed upon 

 the ground, either on the borders of a marsh or near the margin of a pool in the 

 open treeless country. Very often it is under the shelter of a bush. It is simply 

 a little hollow, sometimes, but not always, lined with a few dead leaves and twigs. 

 MacFarlane found nests as early as the 2nd of June, even in the Arctic regions, 

 and in some instances the eggs were hatched by the 19th of June. The eggs are 

 four in number : creamy-white or pale greyish-brown in ground-colour, spotted 

 and blotched with dark reddish-brown, and with large and conspicious underlying 

 markings of grey and greyish-brown. They measure, on an average, 1'65 inch in 

 length by 1"1 inch in breadth. As soon as the young are hatched the old birds 

 become very anxious for their safety when approached by man. MacFarlane 

 observed the male bird perch in a tree near the nest, and both parents flew from 

 tree to tree for a considerable distance, as if enticing him from the vicinity 

 of their treasures. 



Diagnostic characters. — Totanus, with the lower back nearly the same 

 colour as the mantle, with the prevailing colour of the upper tail coverts white, 

 and the axillaries and under wing coverts white sparsely marked with brown. 

 Length of wing, 6'1 to 6'7 inches. Length, lOf inches. 



