The Lesser Yellowlegs 
legs was outraged by their reckless conduct and 
departed early. The Killdeer emptied his bas¬ 
ket of falsehoods at their devoted heads and 
really got the Tattlers into quite a panicky state. 
The Sandpipers, too, left their credulous majors 
with disgusted yips. Altogether 1 had a very 
hard time of it, and succeeded in recording only 
a few mocking blurs. Two ot these birds lingered 
for two weeks, although the continued influence 
of evil associates made them photographically 
impossible. 
Better fortune awaited on the 16th of Aug¬ 
ust, 1913, when a company of eleven of these 
Lesser Yellowlegs was found in the Santa Bar¬ 
bara Estero. That was a wonderful day, anyhow, 
for at the very time the birdman was shuffling 
about in the ooze, and requesting the Tattlers 
to “look pleasant please,” there were twelve 
other species of waders within a stone’s throw. 
Their very names (rendered in English) will 
gladden the heart of the ornithologically elect. 
They were Wilson Phalarope, Northern Phala- 
rope, Baird Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Western 
Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, Greater Yellow¬ 
legs, Western Solitary Sandpiper, Long-billed 
Curlew, Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, and 
Snowy Plover. The Killdeer, again, was sowing 
sedition, but his blasphemous counsels were re¬ 
jected. The Yellowlegs preferred the milder 
society of the Phalaropes and “Westerns” ( Ereu- 
netes mauri), and they did not especially object to the company of an 
ungainly biped who hugged a curious black box. 
It is difficult for a novice to decide upon the identity of this bird, 
as distinguished from N. melanoleuca. The presence of one of the 
Greaters on the same pond is, therefore, of great assistance in clarifying 
first impressions. On this same day I had the good fortune to glimpse 
the two species in close company. The tableau lasted but a moment, for 
upon the instant of discovery I swung upon them with the Graflex, as one 
would level a gun, and at the report of the shutter they were off like 
rockets. As they flew, they made outcry in two different keys of Totanine 
indignation, the notes of these two species being even more distinct as a 
measure of difference than the relative size of their bodies. 
Taken in Santa Barbara 
Photo by the Author 
A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE 
YELLOWLEGOLOGY 
BOTH SPECIES, GREATER AND LESSER, 
WERE SECURED BY ONE LUCKY SHOT 
