242 
ZOOLOGY. 
black; primary quills white at base, and tipped with brownish black; secondaries white, spotted with brownish black; tail 
ashy white, the two middle feathers strongly tinged with ashy; others spotted with dark ashy brown. Bill dark bluish 
brown; lighter at base; legs light blue. Younger .—Entire plumage spotted, and transversely banded with brownish black. 
Total length about 15 inches; wing, 8J; tail, 3|; bill about 2£; tarsus about 2\ inches. 
Eab.— Entire temperate regions of North America; South America. 
I obtained a specimen of the willet at San Francisco, California, where they are quite com¬ 
mon in the markets during the autumn, winter, and spring. From their abundance in California 
I have no doubt that Dr. Townsend is correct in assigning this bird a place in the Oregon fauna. 
Unfortunately, I myself have never obtained a specimen north of San Francisco.—S. 
Probably rare on the coast of Washington Territory, though sportsmen have told me they 
shot it. I never obtained a specimen.—C. 
GAMBETTA MELANOLEUCA, (Gm.) Bon. 
Tell Tale Tattler; Stone Snipe; Greater Yellow-Legs. 
Scolopax mdanoleucus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 659. 
Gambetta melanoleuca, Bon. Comptes Rendus, Sept., 1856. —Baird & Cassin, Gen. Rep. Birds, 731. 
Scolopax vociferus, Wilson, Am. Orn, VII, 1813, 57; pi. lviii. 
Totanus vociferus, Aud. Syn. 244.— 1b. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 316; pi. 345. 
Sp. Cii —Bill longer than the head, rather slender, curved towards the tip; wings rather long, first quill longest; tail 
short; neck and legs long; toes moderate, margined and flattened underneath, connected at base by membranes, the larger 
of which unites the outer and middle toe; hind toe small; claws short, blunt; grooves in both mandibles extending about 
half their length. Entire upper parts cinereous of various shades, dark in manys pecimens in full plumage, generally light 
with white lines on the head and neck and with spots and edgings of dull white on the other upper parts; lower back 
brownish black; rump and upper tail coverts white, generally with more or less imperfect transverse narrow bands of brownish 
black; under parts white, with longitudinal narrow stripes on the neck and transverse crescent lanceolate and sagittate spots 
and stripes on the breast and sides; abdomen pure white; quills brownish black with a purplish lustre, shaft of first primary 
white, secondaries and tertiaries tipped and with transverse bars and spots of ashy white; tail white, with transverse narrow 
bands of brownish black, wider and darker on the two middle feathers; bill brownish black, lighter at the base; legs yellow; 
iris brown; bill grayish black. 
Total length about 14 inches; extent, 23J; wing, 7| to 8; tail, 3| to 3|; bill, 2|; tarsus, 2J inches. 
Eab .—Entire temperate regions of North America; Mexico. 
The great yelloiv-leg tattler I found pretty generally distributed throughout the country— 
obtaining specimens in the remote interior on the Bitter Root stream of the Rocky mountains, 
and also on Puget Sound in the vicinity of the sea-coast. This bird, in the last-named locality, 
is quite abundant during the spring and autumn, where it is found both on fresh water margins 
and also on the salt marshes and tide prairies at the mouths of the various rivers emptying into 
the sound. It is there, in common with the gray snipe, ( M . griseus,) known to the Nisqually 
Indians by the name of Ky-yo-e-yah , a word intended to represent the cry of this bird as it 
strikes the Indian ear. The habit of these aborigines of naming birds and beasts after their 
cries is quite common on the northwest coast.—S. 
The yellow-leg snipe is common near the coast in summer, and I think some remain during 
the winter.—C. 
RHYACOPHILUS SOLITARIES, (Wils.) Cassin. 
Solitary Sandpiper. 
Tringa solilaria, Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, 1813, 53; pi. lviii. 
Totanus solUarius, Add. Syn. 1839, 242.—Is. Birds Am. V, 1842, 309; pi. 343. 
