and turning back fly over the patch whence it came, in its desire to locate the 

 source of the new call. 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman has beautifully described the habits of the Greater 

 Yellow-legs when responding to an imitated call. He was half reclining in his 

 blind, and saw *'in fancy, the staring decoys, pointing like weathercocks with 

 the wind." He says : "Few birds are flying ; lulled by the lap^ lap of the water, 

 I have almost fallen asleep, when far up in the gray sky comes a soft, flutelike 

 whistle, when, wheii-wheii-wheii-wheii-'wheii^-wheu-zvheii. I respond quickly, and 

 lying on my back, look eagerly upward. Not a bird can be seen, but the ques- 

 tioning call grows stronger and is repeated more frequently. Finally I distin- 

 guish five or six black points sailing in narrow circles so high that I can scarcely 

 believe they are the birds I hear. But no bar or shoal breaks the sound waves. 

 The birds, grown larger and on widening circles, sweep earthward. The soft 

 whistle has a plaintive tone ; their long bills turn inquiringly from side to side. 

 The stolid decoys give no response, they repel rather than encourage, but the 

 whistling continues, and with murmured notes of interrogation the deluded birds 

 wheel over them, to find too late that they have blundered." 



None of the waders are more graceful than the Greater Yellow-legs. They 

 frequent watery bogs and the muddy margins of streams. There they search 

 for their food of insect larvae, small crustaceans and fish, worms and small 

 moUusks, frequently wading in water deep enough to reach more than half way 

 up to their bodies. In flying their necks and legs are extended to their full 

 length. Their flight is swift and frequently they rise to great heights. When 

 about to alight, they circle several times over the locality before settling. When 

 they do alight, they stand for a few moments with their wings held over the 

 body and pointing directly upward. It has been suggested that this habit arises 

 from a desire to test the firmness of the soft soil before they bear their weight 

 upon it. When wading, they move about in a quick and apparently excited 

 manner, ''with much balancing and vibrating of the body and graceful darting 

 of the head in various directions," while they seek for their food. 



The Greater Yellow-legs exhibits great anxiety and sympathy for a wounded 

 companion and for a time seems to forget its own danger. 



The range of the Greater Yellow-legs is an extensive one which includes 

 America in general. It breeds from Northern IlHnois and Iowa northward, and 

 migrates south in the fall as far as Patagonia, some wintering in the Gulf states. 

 In its migrations, it seldom remains more than a day or two at any one station, 

 though the fall passage is somewhat slower than that of spring, when it seems 

 to be in haste to begin the work of nesting. 



Audubon has said: "When in Labrador, I found these birds breeding, two 

 or three pairs together, in the delightful quiet valleys bounded by rugged hills 

 of considerable height, and watered by limpid brooks. These valleys exhibit, 

 in June and July, the richest verdure, luxuriant grasses of various species grow- 

 ing 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 this species." 



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