TELL-TALE TATLER. 319 



vicinity. I therefore conclude that its cries are then more intended to draw 

 you from the spot where its nest is concealed, than for any other purpose, as 

 on such occasions the bird either moves off on foot, or flies away and alights 

 at a short distance from the place where its treasure lies. 



When in Labrador, I found these birds breeding, two or three pairs 

 together, in the delightful quiet valleys bounded by rugged hills of consider- 

 able height, and watered by limpid brooks. These valleys exhibit, in June 

 and July, the richest verdure, luxuriant grasses of various species growing 

 here and there in separate beds many yards in extent, while the intervening 

 spaces, which are comparatively bare, are of that boggy nature so congenial 

 to the habits of these species. In one of those pleasing retreats my son 

 found a pair of Tell-tales, in the month of June, both of which were pro- 

 cured. The female was found to contain a full-formed egg, and some more 

 of the size of peas. The eggs are four, pyriform, 2\ inches long, 1^ in their 

 greatest breadth, pale greenish-yellow, marked with blotches of umber and 

 pale purplish-grey. 



The plumage of this bird has a very different appearance in autumn and 

 winter from that which it presents at the approach of the breeding season. 

 This has led some students of Nature in the United States to suppose that 

 there exist two nearly allied species; but this, I am confident, is not the case. 

 The female is larger than the male, but only in a slight degree. 



Dr. Richardson has found this species on the Saskatchewan and Mr. 

 Townsend on the Columbia river. 



Tell-tale Godwit, or Snipe, Scolopax vociferus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 57. 



Totangs melanoledcos, Bonap. Syn., p. 324. 



Totanus vociferos, Tell-tale, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 389. 



Tell-tale or Greater Yellowshanks, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 148. 



Tell-tale Godwit, Totanus melanoleucus, And. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 68. 



Male, 14, 24f. Female, 13|, ZS\. 



Abundant during autumn, winter, and spring, from Texas along the 

 Atlantic, and throughout the interior to Labrador. Few breed in the Jerseys; 

 most from Labrador northward. 



Adult Male. 



Bill much 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 beyond the nostrils and blended with the sides, which are convex, 

 the edges thick, with a groove running their whole length, the tip slightly 

 deflected. Lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the dorsal 

 line straight, the sides convex, with a slight groove in their basal half, the 



