The flight of the Tell-tale Godwit, or “Great Yellow-Shank,” as it is generally named in the Western Country, is swift, at times elevated, and, when necessary, sustained. They pass through the air with their necks and legs stretched to 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 tribe that have already alighted. At such times, any person who can imitate their cries can easily check their flight, and in a few moments induce them to pass or to alight within shooting distance. This I have not unfrequently succeeded in doing, when they were, at the commencement of my calls, almost half a mile distant. Nay, I have sometimes seen them so gentle, that on my killing several in a flock, the rest would 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 you from the spot where its nest is concealed, than for any other purpose, 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. When in Labrador, I found these birds breeding, two or three pairs together, in the delightful quiet valleys bounded by rugged hills of considerable height, and watered by limpid brooks. These valleys exhibit, in June and July, the richest verdure, luxuriant grasses of various species growing here and there in separate beds many yards in extent, while the intervening spaces, which are comparatively bare, are of that boggy nature so congenial to the habits of these species. In one of those pleasing retreats my son found a pair of Tell-tales, in the month of June, both of which were procured. The female was found to contain a full-formed egg, and some more of the size of peas. The eggs are four, pyriform, 2-1/4 inches long, 1-(4-1/2)/8 in their greatest breadth, pale greenish-yellow, marked with blotches of umber and pale purplish-grey. The plumage of this bird has a very different appearance in autumn and winter from that which it presents at 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; but this, I am confident, is not the case. The female is larger than the male, but only in a slight degree. Dr RICHARDSON has found this species on the Saskatchewan and Dr TOWNSEND on the Columbia River. TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 324. TELL-TALE GODWIT or SNIPE, Scolopax vociferus, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 57, pl. 58, fig. 5.