TOTANUS. 



363 



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Subgenus Tringoides : Totanus dorso postico et interscapulio concoloribus ; axillaribus 

 aut omninb albis aut albis brunneo notatis. 



TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS. 



GREATER YELLOWSHANK. 



Totanus dorso postico et interscapulio fere concoloribus: supracaudalibus pro majore parte Diagnosis, 

 albis : maguitudine media (aire 185 ad 200 millim.). 



It is not known that Eastern and Western examples of this species differ in any respect. Variations. 



Scolopax melanoleuca, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 659 (1788). 



Scolopax vociferus, Wilson, Am. Orn. vii. p. 57 (1813). 



Totanus melanoleucus (Gmel.),-\ 



Totanus vociferns (Wilson), V Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. vi. pp. 398, 401, 412 (1816). 



Totanus sasashew, J 



Gambetta melanoleuca (Gmel.), Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 597 (1856). 



Totanus chilensis, Philippi, Wiegm. Archiv, 1857, pt. i. p. 264. 



Synouymy. 



Plates. — Wilson, Am. Orn. pi. 58. fig. 5 ; Audubon, Birds Am. v. pi. 345. 

 Habits. — Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 269. 

 Eggs. — Unknown. 



Literature. 



The Greater Yellowshank has the lower back nearly the same colour as the mantle, but Specific 



1 1 flT'fl.CtjGI'S 



the predominant colour of the upper tail-coverts is ivhite. Wing more than 7 incites from 



carpal joint is a sufficient character to distinguish it from the allied species which also 



possess the other characters. 



The Greater Yellowshank undoubtedly breeds from the south of Alaska to Labrador, Geographi- 

 • " t • t C£ d distribu- 



but we have no authentic account of the discovery of its eggs. It passes through the t ion. 



United States, the Bermudas (Reid, Zoologist, 1877, p. 477), and the West Indies on 



migration, a few remaining to winter in the Southern States, but the greater number 



passing further south to winter on the South-American coasts, where it has occurred in 



Venezuela (Berlepsch, Ibis, 1884, p. 441), Trinidad and Colombia (Salmon, Proc. Zool. 



Soc. 1879, p. 547), north of the equator. From the west I have an example obtained by 



3a 2 



