638 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOL^. 
244. TO'TANUS. (Ital. totano, some bird of this kind.) Tattlers. Bill longer than head, 
straight or nearly so, if anything rather bent up than down, very slender, without expansion at 
tip or furrow on culnien, the lateral grooves little if any more than half its length ; gape reach- 
ing beyond base of culmen. Wings long, pointed ; tail short, even or little rounded, barred in 
color. Legs very long and slender ; tibiae much denuded below ; tarsi longer than middle toe 
and claw, scutellate before and behind. Toes with decided basal webbing between outer and 
middle toe, that between inner and middle slight. Legs green or yellow. Xumerous species 
of various parts of the world. 
Analysis of Sjjecies. 
Legs yellow. 
Length over 12; wing over 7 ; tail 3 or more ; bill over 2, bent up a little melanoleucus 633 
Length under 12 ; wing under 7 ; tail under 3; bill under 2, straight flavijies 334 
Legs greenish; size and form nearly as in T. melanoleucus glottis 636 
633. T. melaiioleu'cus. (Gr. /xe'Xa?, black ; XevKos, /ewcos, white. Fig. 445.) Greater 
Tell-tale. Greater Yellow-shanks. Long-legged Tattler. Stone-snipe. Bill 
Fig. 445. — Greater Yellow-shanks, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) 
straight or slightly inclined upward, not with regular curve, but as if bent near the middle, 
black or greenish- black. Legs very long and slender, chrome -yellow. Length 13.00-14.00 ; 
extent 23.00-25.00; wing over 7-00, nearer 8.00; tail 3.00 or more ; bill 2.00 or more ; tarsus 
about 2.50; middle toe and claw 1.70. Length from end of bill to end of outstretched feet 17 
or 18 inches. $ 9 7 adult : Above, blackish, more or less ashy according to season, everywhere 
speckled with whitish, in a series of indentations along edge of each feather; the markings 
spotty on the back and wings, streaky on the head and neck. A slight white superciliary line. 
Upper tail-(;overts mostly white. Under parts white, the jugulum and fore-breast streaked, 
the sides and flanks, lining of wings and axillars barred and arrow-headed with the color of the 
back. Tail like back, with numerous white bars, generally broken on the middle feathers. 
Primaries blackish, with black shafts, mostly with white tips ; secondaries and their coverts 
the same, but their edges marbled, spotted, or broken-barred with white. The seasonal 
changes of plumage are inconsiderable, consisting chiefly in the tone of the upper parts, more 
blackish and white in summer, more gray and ashy in winter and in the yonng ; and in the 
emphasis of the dark markings of the under parts. N. Am. at large ; in U. S. chiefly as a 
migrant, and in winter ; breeds in high latitudes ; abundant, like the last a noisy, restless 
denizen of the marshes, bays, and estuaries. 
634. T, fla'vipes. (Lat. flavijjes, yellow-foot.) Lesser Tell-tale. Yellow-shanks. A 
miniature of the last ; colors precisely the same : legs comparatively longer ; bill grooved 
rather farther, perfectly straight. Length under 12.00, usually 10.00-11.00 ; extent 19.00- 
21.00; wing under 7.00 ; tail 2.50; bill always under 2.00, about 1.50; tarsus about 2.00; 
