The Lesser Yellowlegs 



No. 246 



Lesser Yellowlegs 



A. O. U. No. 255. Neoglottis flavipes (Gmelin). 



Synonyms. — Tattler. Lesser Tattler. Common Yellowlegs. Yellow- 

 shanks Tattler. Tell-tale. 



Description. — An almost exact miniature of the preceding and not requiring 

 separate description; markings of underparts perhaps a little less extensive. Length 

 about 266.7 (10.50); wing 155.2 (6. n); tail 59.9 (2.36); bill 37.1 (1.46); tarsus 50.3 (1.98). 



Recognition Marks. — Killdeer size; like preceding species but smaller. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Eggs: 4; olive-buff (variable as to 

 shade), distinctly (sometimes broadly) spotted or blotched with dark chocolate or 

 blackish brown and violet-gray. Av. size 42.9 x 29.2 (1.69 x 1.15). 



General Range. — The Americas, breeding from northern Quebec and southern 

 Saskatchewan to southern Ungava, and northwesterly to extreme Alaska; migrating 

 southward, but chiefly east of the Rocky Mountains, through Middle America to 

 Chile and Patagonia. 



Occurrence in California. — Rated by Grinnell as a "rare migrant", with enu- 

 meration of records. Of regular occurrence at Santa Barbara during the autumnal 

 movement, but noted in spring only in the season of 1912: Apr. 27, May I, and May 3. 



Authorities. — Newberry (Totanus flavipes), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. vi., 

 1857. P- 98 (Rhett Lake; Townsend, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. x., 1887, p. 198 (Hum- 

 boldt Bay); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric, Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 35, p. 56 (distr. and migr.); 

 Dawson, Condor, vol. xv., 1913, p. 204, figs. (Santa Barbara, August). 



MR. WELLS W. COOKE, who has specialized on the migrations of 

 the Shore-birds, says: "The Yellow-legs is rarely seen west of the Rocky 

 Mountains, but a few occur along the coast from northern Alaska (Grin- 

 nell) to southern lower California (Brewster)." California records, at 

 least, are exceedingly scarce. Two occurrences at Santa Barbara are, 

 therefore, important enough to warrant explicit record. On August 30, 

 1 91 2, I saw five of the Lesser Yellowlegs in company with two of the 

 Greater, and a scattered host of smaller pipers, feeding upon the mud- 

 flats near Colonel Beale's place (the Beale Estero, we sometimes call it). 

 The muck here is foul, not alone with natural accretions but with the 

 rudera of civilization. But bird photographers must not be choosers. 

 I shucked shoes and socks in a trice, seized the Graflex and wacled in. 

 Passing automobilists, I fear, were highly amused at the spectacle of this 

 return to nature, but their hilarity gave me no such concern as did the 

 trepidation of the birds. 



Left to themselves, the Yellowlegs, being newcomers, would have 

 made very decent subjects, but they received altogether too much advice 

 from wittier birds to achieve photographic fame. The Greater Yellow- 



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