BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 37 



GENUS TOTANUS. BECHSTEIN. 

 255. Totanus flavipes (GMEL.). 



Yellow-legs. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill rather longer than the head, straight, slender, compressed ; wing long pointed; 

 tail short ; legs long, lower half of the tibia naked ; toes moderate, slender, mar- 

 uinrd, the outer and middle united at base; rump and upper tail coverts white, the 

 latter transversely barred with ashy-brown ; other upper parts ashy, many feath- 

 ers having large arrowheads and irregular spots of brownish-black, and edged with 

 ashy-\vhite; under parts white, with numerous longitudinal lines on the neck be- 

 fore, and arrowheads on the sides, of dark ashy-brown ; axillaries and under wing 

 coverts white, with bands of ashy-brown, very indistinct in many specimens, but 

 generally well defined ; quills brownish-black ; tail ashy-white with transverse bands 

 of dark-brown, middle feathers darker; bill greenish-black; legs yellow; iris 

 brown. 



Young. Entire upper plumage tinged with reddish-brown ; neck before with lines 

 much less distinct and pale-ashy. 



Total length, about 10 to 10| inches ; wing, 6 to 6 ; tail, 2 ; bill, Ik ; tarsus, 2 inches. 

 Bill in this species is always less than 2 inches long. 



Hai>. America in general, breeding in the cold temperate and sub-arctic dis- 

 tricts, and migrating south in winter to southern South America. Less common in 

 the western than the eastern province of North America, 



This bird is a miniature representative of the Greater Yellow-legs* 

 ( Totanus melanoleucus) . Both species are easily recognized by their 

 long yellow legs and white markings on rump. 



The Yellow-legs, commonly known along the sea-shore as "Little 

 Yellow-leg-Tell-tale,' ? is quite frequently found in Pennsylvania dur- 

 ing migrations Although often seen in spring, it is most numerous 

 during the last of August and in September. It is generally found 

 in the interior, singly or in pairs, and sometimes, though not often, in 

 parties of five or six. I have often found them about ponds, pools, 

 and muddy flats, never along streams of running water, unless the 

 borders of such streams were muddy and destitute of grasses and other 

 vegetation. Dr. Ezra Michener, in a list of the Chester county birds, 

 published in 1863, says this species is a u frequent summer resident.'' 

 I have never known this bird to occur in Chester county as a summer 

 resident, and I am satisfied that it is now found in Chester county and 

 throughout Pennsylvania only as a spring and autumnal migrant. 



FOOD. 



Referring to the food of this bird, Nuttall says : u It resides chiefly 

 in the salt marshes, and frequents low flats and estuaries at the ebb 

 of the tide, wading in the mud in quest of worms, insects and other 

 small marine and finviatile animals." I have been informed that 

 these birds sometimes prey on small fishes. 



* The Greater Tell-tale, as this bird is usually denominated by gunners, measures H inches in 

 length by about 25 inches in extent. The bill is about 2 inches long ; never under two inches in 

 length. 



