Coues (1878) at first mistook birds of this species for dowitchers and did not recognize them until he had them in his hands. He says: They gathered in the same compact groups, waded about in the same sedate, preoccupied manner, fed with the same motion of the head, probing obliquely in shallow water with the head submerged, were equally oblivious of my approach, and when wounded swam with equal facility. The close structural resemblances of the two species are evidently reflected in their general economy. Mr. Nichols says in his notes: On alighting the stilt sandpiper sometimes lifts its wings halfway for an instant, a mannerism characteristic of the tattler group, which it would seem to have acquired from its associate, the yellow-legs. _Voice._--Following are Mr. Nichols's notes on this subject: The common flight note of the stilt sandpiper is very like the single whistled _whu_ of the lesser yellow-legs, but recognizably lower pitched and hoarser, at times with a quaver, _whr-r-u_, and varying down to a shorter, less loud _whrug_. An unloud, reedy _sher_ has been heard from two birds when flushing. Though with different feeding habits, stilt sandpiper, dowitcher, and lesser yellow-legs frequent the same grounds, associate very freely on the wing, and all three have a very similar flight note, though sufficiently different for identification. Perhaps the very lack of close relationship in these birds has facilitated convergence of their habits and calls, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that close association, even imitation, has played some part in bringing about the likeness of their voices. The greater yellow-legs differs more from the lesser, both in flight note and flight habits, than do these other two unrelated species. _Field marks._--I quote again from Mr. Nichols's notes on field characters, as follows: