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Yellowlegs
- Called also
- SUMMER YELLOWLEGS; LESSER TELLTALE; TELLTALE SNIPE; YELPER; LITTLE CU-CU; LESSER YELLOWSHINS; LITTLE STONE SNIPE, ETC
- Length
- 10 to 12 inches.
- Male and Female
- Coloration precisely as in the greater yellow-legs. This bird is to be distinguished only by its smaller size, and its proportionately longer legs.
- Range
- North America at large, nesting from the northern states to the Arctic regions; wintering from the Gulf states to Patagonia.
- Season
- Chiefly a spring and autumn visitor; more abundant in autumn; rarely a summer resident; April, May; July to October.
The haunts, habits, and noisy voices of the two species of yellowlegs are so nearly identical, like their plumage, that a description of them would be simply a repetition of the larger bird's biography. From the fact that some of these birds nest within the United States limits, they have been called summer yellowlegs; but the great majority act precisely as their larger double does, and so have earned only diminutives of its popular names. In the Mississippi region the lesser telltale is far more common than in the east, but it is still abundant on the Atlantic coast in the autumn migrations, at least; and it is supposed to be everywhere a commoner bird than the greater yellowlegs. Possibly this smaller tattler responds more readily to the whistling down method of enticing a flock to decoys, but the experiences of individual sportsmen differ greatly in this as in most matters.