GREATER YELLOW-LEGS 403 



when a hunter is espied approaching, and the cries so persistently 

 uttered are usually sufficient to put the more desirable game on its 

 guard or even to cause it to take flight. On account of this habit 

 these two birds are often called Tell-tales or Tattlers, the present 

 species being known as the Greater Tell-tale. Many a Yellow-legs has 

 forfeited its life before the barrel of an angry hunter for having given 

 untimely warning to ducks or other game. 



The Greater Yellow -legs is a fairly common spring and fall migrant 

 throughout the state, and also occurs during the winter months in 

 limited numbers in the San Joaquin and Imperial valleys, and near 

 the coast from the vicinity of Monterey Bay southward. Individuals, 

 possibly barren or injured, have been observed in the vicinity of 

 Los Angeles in June and July, so that the species may be found 

 within the state during every month of the year. Birds which were 

 probably migrants from the north were seen near Alvarado, Alameda 

 County, July 28, 1913 (Grinnell and Bryant, MS) ; Bowles and 

 Howell (1912, p. 9) state that the species was observed at Santa 

 Barbara on July 18, 1910, while in 1911 a single bird was noted on 

 August 29 and the species was not again seen until October 14. 

 Belding (MS) records the birds at Stockton on February 25, 1879, 

 and February 24 and 25, 1880. Beck (MS) observed limited num- 

 bers at Los Bafios, Merced County, almost daily throughout the entire 

 winter of 1911-1912. E. "W. Nelson saw a few small flocks about 

 ponds near Lone Pine, Inyo County, in December, 1890 (A. K. Fisher, 

 1893ffl, p. 23), and Van Rossem (1911, p. 131) states that the species 

 was common in the grain fields of Imperial Valley, near Salton Sea, 

 December 1 to 25, 1910. Willett (1912a, pp. 37, 88) states that dur- 

 ing the winter it is present along the coast of southern California as 

 far north as Santa Barbara. Beck (MS) observed two individuals 

 along a slough near Moss Landing, Monterey County, January 27, 

 1911. 



The northward migration probably begins about the second week 

 in March, as Beck (MS) records their numbers as increasing at Los 

 Banos about this time, and Belding (MS) states that it was first 

 seen in the spring at Gridley, Butte County, on March 14, 1893. 

 April probably marks the height of the migi'ation season, as the bulk 

 of the spring records occur during that month. By the middle or 

 latter part of May most of the birds have left for the north; for 

 instance, Belding (MS) states that the species was observed at Stock- 

 ton up to May 23, 1878, while at Santa Barbara, Bowles and Howell 

 (1912, p. 9) saw birds up to May 16, 1910. The species was seen at 

 Nigger Slough, Los Angeles County, June 19, 1897, by G. F. Morcom, 

 and it has been observed during July in the same vicinity by H. S. 

 Swarth (Grinnell, 1898, p. 17). 



