70 TELL-TALE GOD WIT.
s t . e m as if they were swimming. If just alighted after ;<\v:or so short
a flight, 'they hold their wings upright for a considerable time, as if
doubtful of not having obtained good footing. Closing their wings,
they then move nimbly about the pool, and are SXHVIV catching small
fishes, insects, worms, or snails, which they do. with rapidity and a
considerable ilegree of grace, for their stops arc light, and the balancing
or vibratory motion of their body, while their head, is gently
moved backwards and forwards, is very pleasing to theoye.
I have often observed these birds on large logs, floating on the
Mississippi, and moving gently with the current, and this sometimes
in company with the Snowy Heron, Arden cmMianma, or the American
Grow,. Cornti Ammacmm. In Such situations, thai procure
shrimps ¡and .the fry of fishes. In autumn, they: are extremely prone
to betake themselves to the margins of our most sequestered lakes in
the interior of Louisiana and Kentucky, where the summer heat has
left exposed great flats of soft sandy mud .abounding with food suited
t „ their appetite, and where they are much less likely to be disturbed
than when on the marshes on the sea shore, or on the margins ioi, rivers.
When they havft heen¡some time in the salt-marshes, and have
eaten indiscriminately small shell-fish, worms, mid fry, they -acquire a
disagreeable fishy taste,: and being at the. same time t imeless tat, are
scarcely fit for the table. They are.Social birds, and frequently mingle
•with other waders, as well I with the smaller ducks, such as the Bluewingfet
and Gieen-wmged Teats. In the salt-marshes tliey associate
with Curlews, AVil'lew, and other species, with which they live in
peace, ¡„id on thv watchfulness of which they depend q u i « as much as
on their own.
The flight of the Tell-tale Godwit, or « Great Yellow-Shank;" as
it is generallf named in the Western Country, is .swift, at times«eievated,
and, wlven necessary, sustained; They pass through the air with
their necks and l e p stretched tiii their full length, and roam over -the
places which they select several times before they alight, emitting
their well-known and easily imitated whistling notes; should any suspicious;
object be in sight, or if they are anxious to receive the answer
of some of their own tribo ¡that have already alighted. At ¡s»eh
times, any person who can imitate their cries can easily chick their
flight, and in a few moments: induce them to pass or to alight within
shooting distance. This I have not unfrequcntly succeeded in doing,
TELL-TALE (ÌOOVV1T. 71
when they were, at the commencement of my calls, almost ball'» mile
distant. Nay, 'I liuve sometimes st-en them so gentle, that on riiy
kiffingiseveral in a flock, "Hre rest wouid'Only remove a few yards.
I have- always found that the cries of this bird were louder and
more frequent during the period of its ¡breeding, when scarcely any
birds were in the vicinity. I therefore conclude that its cries are then
more intended to draw yom from the spot where its nest is concealed,
than for any other purposes as on such occasions the bird either moves
off on foot, or flies away and alights at a short distance from the place
where its treasure lies.
Whim in Labrador, I found these birds breeding, two or three
pairs together, in the delightful quiet valleys bounded "by rugged hills
of considerable height, Sad watered by limpid brooks. These valleys
exhibit, ill June and July, the ricliost verdure, luxuriant grasses
of various species growing here and therei n Separate beds many yards
in 'extent, while the intervening spaccs, which are comparatively bare,
are of that boggy nature so ¡KoBgehial to the habits of these species.
In one of those pleasing retreats niv son found a pair of Tell-tales, in
t h e month of June»'hoth'óÉ1which were procured. The female was
found to contain a full-formed egg, and some more of the Size of peas.
The tiggji aie four, pvriform, ¡2-1' inches long, 1|4 in their greatest
breadth, pale greenish-yellow, marked With blotches of umber and pale
pnfpl'ish-grey.-
The plumage of this bird has a very different appearance in autumn
and winter from that which it presents'àt the approach of the breeding
season. This has led some students of Nature in the United States
to suppose» that there exist two nearly allied species ; hut this, I am
confident, is not the case. The female is larger than the male, but
oh'ly in a slight degree.
Dr RICHARDSON has found this species on the 'Saskatchewan and
Dr TowNSEWD-'On the Columbia River.
B M MELANOLEUCUS, Ck. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 324.
"TELL-TALE G-OIJWIT or SNIPE, Scolopax vooiferus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii.
1 1 : p. 57, pi. 58, fig.
TELL-TALE,'or GREATEU YELLOW-SHANKS, Xutt'M, Manual, vol. ii. p. 148.
TOTANUS vociFERua, TELL-TALE, Richards, and Swains. Faun. Bor. Amer, :vol. ii.
.p. ,3|t9. .