SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC.: GREATER YELLOW-LEGS 269 
uppcrparts heavily mottled with black, gray, and white; tail coverts and basal half of tail 
white, terminal half imperfectly barred; wing quills blackish brown, under surface of 
flight feathers more or less marbled; underparts white, marked with blackish except 
on belly; iris brown; bill blackish, legs and feet bright yellow. Adults in winter plu¬ 
mage: Similar but uppcrparts without black markings, light gray, spotted with white: 
underparts mainly white, finely streaked on throat and chest and irregularly marked 
with gray on sides and flanks. Young in Juvenal plumage: Like summer adults but 
upperparts dark brown, with buffy instead of white feather margins. 
Comparisons. —Size, height, slenderness, gray plumage, conspicuous white tail 
coverts, long yellow legs, and absence of buffy or rusty mark the Greater Yellow-legs; 
while it is distinguished from the Lesser or Yellow-legs not only by greater size but 
relatively longer, stouter bill (Forbush). (See p. 270.) 
Range. —Breeds from southern Alaska, southern Mackenzie, and northern Un- 
gava south to Labrador, Manitoba, and (probably southern) British Columbia; 
winters from southern United States (casually Washington), the Bahamas, Porto 
Rico, and the Lesser Antilles over a vast area in South America to the southern 
extremity of the continent as far as Tierra del Fuego (Wetmore). 
State Records. —Ranging completely across the United States from ocean to 
ocean, the Greater Yellow-legs would be expected to occur in New Mexico, where 
until about fifty years ago it was a fairly common migrant. It has been recorded in 
various years from July until winter. Early fall migrants were found July 19, 1901, 
at Pecos, and at a water tank (6,200 ft.); August 3-9, 1901, in the Guadalupe Moun¬ 
tains (Bailey); others August 6, 1912, at Carlsbad (Dearborn); August 20 and 25, 
1913, three or four near Koehler (Kalmbach). [On August 28, 1917, it was noted 
between Socorro and Albuquerque, and September 3, 1920, four were seen on lakes 
4 miles north of Albuquerque (Ligon); in the fall of 1919 a few near Albuquerque 
on the river sandbars (Leopold)]; noted at Carlsbad, September 3, 1901 (Bailey), and 
September 12-24, 1892 (Dutcher); a large flock was observed September 21, 1902, 
near Roswell (Gaut). Woodhouse in 1851 recorded the species from both Albu¬ 
querque and Zuni and a few years later Henry took specimens both spring and fall on 
the Rio Grande near Fort Thorn. At this time they stayed so late in the fall that 
Henry believed some of them would winter, as they do near the mouth of the Rio 
Grande. They were noted on the Carlsbad Bird Reserve in the winter of 1915-16; 
[one seen there in December, 1916 (Willett)]. 
A late spring migrant was seen at Albuquerque May 6, 1901 (Birtwell). In 1913 
two birds were seen June 15 near Tularosa (Ligon), but of course they must have 
been non-breeders. No migrants were seen in 1913 until August 7, when two were 
noted on Dulce Lake (Ligon)].—W. W. Cooke. 
Food.— Snails, insects, worms, small shrimps, and minnows. 
General Habits. —At Carlsbad during the fall migration of 1901 
on the Bolles Ranch—the irrigated alfalfa ranch where we found acres 
of shore-birds, including sandpipers of all sizes and kinds from noisy 
Greater Yellow-legs, jocosely called yelpers, to the quiet little sand¬ 
pipers and plovers, strikingly winged Willets, handsome Black-necked 
Stilts, Long-billed Avocets, and Curlews—one meadow was irrigated 
at a time, and so a field that one day was all water, white wings, and 
a babel of bird notes, on the next would be dry,- bare, and silent, the 
multitudes having followed the man with the shovel. When a field 
was left strewn with dead minnows, flocks of Yellow-legs, hundreds 
