1883.] 387 [Brewster. 



were breeding abundantly. They darted about his head and often followed 

 him for a considerable distance. He brought me three specimens, all adult 

 females. Two of them Lad each four incubating spots arranged in pairs, 

 one pair on the sides of the breast, the other on the abdomen. The 

 third bird had only one pair of spots, on the abdomen." 



"Ellis Bay, July 24. The Greater Yellow-legs are even more numer- 

 ous here than at Fox Bay. At sunset last evening they were calling all 

 around the shores, and I came upon one this morning which evidently had 

 young. I had landed on a grassy point when she flew directly at me, dart- 

 ing down with set wings and passing within a few feet of my head, all the 

 while uttering an incessant clack-clack-clack-clack, which sounded very like 

 the clatter of a mowing-machine. Once or twice she alighted on the lime- 

 stone flats and tumbled about as if wounded. I failed to find the young 

 which must have hidden in the tall grass." 



Previous to the experiences just related I had supposed myself 

 well-acquainted with these birds, but I am free to confess that 

 when I first met them at Anticosti I had to shoot several before 

 I could believe that they were really Greater Yellow-legs. Not 

 only were their flight and actions peculiar, but all their notes dif- 

 fered from any that I had ever heard them produce. In addition 

 to the cry already described, they uttered a rolling pheu-pheu- 

 phe, pheu-pheu-phe, repeated a dozen times or more in quick suc- 

 cession ; a mellow pheu, pheu, pheu, resembling the whistle of the 

 Fish Hawk ; and a soft, hollow hoo, whoo, whoo, very like the coo- 

 ing of a Dove. The latter note was given only when the bird 

 perched on the top of some tall spruce, a habit by no means un- 

 common here, but one which I think has never been previously 

 reported for this species, although the Willet, Wilson's Snipe, and 

 several other waders are known to act in a similarly unorthodox 

 manner during the breeding season. The shrill, descending whis- 

 tle so familiar to the ears of sportsman was rarely heard at 

 Anticosti. 



As nearly as I can learn from a somewhat hurried examination 

 of the literature of the subject, the Greater Yellow-leg has not 

 been previously found breeding on the Atlantic Coast, while its 

 eggs are still a desideratum in most collections, if, indeed, au- 

 thentic specimens have ever been found. At the proper season, 

 and with favorable opportunities for search, they could be unques- 

 tionably collected in considerable numbers on Anticosti. 



