314 THE YELLOWSHANK TATLER. 



pass around you, or remove to some distant place. Their long yellow legs, 

 which are stretched out behind, are quite conspicuous when they are on wing. 

 Should you bring one to the ground wounded, it walks off leisurely, vibrates 

 its body, and emits plaintive cries; and should one fall into the water under 

 similar circumstances, it paddles its way towards the nearest shore with con- 

 siderable speed. If you approach it, it may immerse its head, but it cannot 

 dive to any depth. 



In very dry weather, I have observed this species on the uplands search- 

 ing for grasshoppers and insects. It has been alleged that when one is 

 wounded, its companions hover around so as to be easily shot; but this I 

 have never observed, for although they are perhaps less shy than the Tell- 

 tales, on such occasions, I never found one of them to remain; they seemed, 

 on tbe contrary, to be well aware of the danger, and would fly quite out of 

 sight, rising high in the air, and pursuing a direct course, emitting cries at 

 intervals. 



Along the shores of the sea, they are now and then seen in company with 

 other species, although they cannot be said actually to associate with them. 

 In autumn they become fat, and by many are considered good eating, although 

 they always have a kind of fishy taste not at all agreeable to my palate. 

 Their food consists of diminutive fishes, shrimps, worms, and aquatic insects. 



I have represented one of these birds on the fore ground of a little piece 

 of water a few miles distant from Charleston in South Carolina, on the 

 borders of which, in the company of my kind friend John Bachman and 

 others, I have spent many a pleasant hour, while resting after fatiguing 

 rambles in the surrounding woods. 



Yellowshanks Snipe, Scolopax flavipes , Wils. Amer. Orn. , vol. vii. p. 55. 



Totands flavipes, Bonap. Syn., p. 324. 



Totands flavipes, Yellowshanks Taller, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 



390. 

 Yellowshanks Tatler, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 152. 

 Yellowshank, Totanus flavipes, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 573; vol. v. p. 586. 



Male, lOf, 20. 



From Texas to Maine, in autumn and spring. Very abundant at the same 

 seasons throughout the interior. Breeds in the Fur Countries, up to the 

 highest northern latitudes. 



Adult Male in summer. 



Bill a little longer than the head, very slender, sub-cylindrical, straight, 

 flexible, compressed at the base, the point rather depressed and obtuse. 

 Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge convex, broader at 

 the base, slightly depressed towards the end, the sides sloping, towards the 



