BIEDS OF NORTHEEN CANADA 441 



242. Least Sandpiper— 4 cifocZromas minutilla Vieill. 



This species was found breeding abundantly at Fort Ander- 

 son, on the borders of, as well as in, the Barren Grounds, 

 and on and close to the shores of the Polar Sea. Upwards 

 of twenty nests were secured, and in all respects they were 

 precisely similar to those described under this genus. It 

 does not appear to be abundant in other recorded parts, 

 although it probably breeds sparingly in Labrador, Western 

 Canada and Alaska. 



The Ottawa Museum collection contains six specimens 

 (but no eggs) taken at widely separated localities: three at 

 Indian Head in May, 1892 ; two on Stubb's Island, off the 

 west coast of Vancouver Island, B.C., in August, 1893, by 

 Mr. W. Spreadborough ; and one on Umiak Island, Behring 

 Sea, by Mr. J. M. Macoun, in August, 1891. 



255. Yellow Legs — Totanus flavipes (Gmelin). 



Probably the most abundant and certainly the noisiest of 

 all the waders we met with anywhere. Nests were found at 

 Fort Anderson, on the lower Anderson River, in the wooded 

 country to and along the rivers which flow through the Bar- 

 ren Grounds. In many instances the male birds were seen 

 perching on trees in the vicinity, but when young ones were 

 present both parents were particularly noisy and did all that 

 was possible for them to attract away intruders, while the 

 former soon learned to run and screen themselves from view 

 in the grass. Over thirty nest entries are recorded in the 

 Field Notes, while it is among the earliest of the waders 

 which arrive and breed in the Arctic portion of the region 

 under review. Richardson states that " this is a very com- 

 mon bird in the North- West Territories, and is seen either 

 solitary or in pairs on the banks of every river, lake and 

 marsh up to the northern extremity of the continent. On 

 the lower Yukon River it is not so common as on the upper 

 portion, where, at the old Hudson's Bay Fort Yukon Mr. J. 



