ish yellow legs, from which they take their common names of yellowlegs, green-shanks, etc., while, because of their constant noisy calling, they are known to gunners as tattlers or tell-tale snipe. The greater yellowlegs (T. melanolencus) inhabits during some part of the year nearly the entire American continent and breeds chiefly north of the United States, in which it is well known as a coastwise migrant. It is 13 to 14 inches long, with a spread of wings of two feet. Above the color is a mixed dark ashy, varying with the age and season, below white streaked and barred with ashy black. Although chiefly a maritime bird, this species also migrates through the Mississippi Valley and is found about the lakes of the interior; and even along the coast it is fond of frequenting the fresh and brackish pools on the meadows, where it finds an abundance of food in the small fishes, mollusks, shrimps and crabs. It also eats worms, insects and the spawn of fishes, which it catches with great facility. During the migrations, which occur in April and from late August to October through the greater part of the United States, it is commonly seen in small parties of 6 or 8, often consorting with other species of tattlers, willets and godwits. The flight is swift and often elevated, and in alighting in pools in which they wade leg-deep they keep the wings raised until well settled. They are extremely alert and noisy and thus provoke the indignation of gunners. The nest is a grass-lined depression on the ground and the four, pyriform, greenish yellow, brown and gray blotched eggs measure upward of two inches in length. The lesser yellowlegs (T. flavipes) is in form and colors nearly an exact miniature of the last, but is only 10 or 11 inches long, with a spread of 20 inches. Its range and habits are similar to those of the larger species, but it is much commoner in the East and flies in much larger flocks. It is much better known to shooters of shore-birds. The eggs are more variable, the ground-color being clay or buff, and the markings usually very bold and distinct. The European green-shank (q.v.) occasionally straggles to our shores and may be distinguished from T. melanoleucus, which it resembles in size, by the distinctly green color of the lower legs and feet. About a dozen related species are found in other parts of the world and the genus Helodromas, containing our solitary and green sandpipers, is closely allied. For methods of shooting see SANDPIPER.

Yellowplush Papers, The, a series of satirical papers by William M. Thackeray, which appeared in Fraser's Magazine' in 1837-8, as The Yellowplush Memoirs,' and in book form in 1841.

Yellows, a disease of the peach (q.v.). Yellowstone, formerly Sublette, a lake in the Yellowstone National Park (q.v.), at the northeast base of the Rocky Mountain range. It has an elevation of nearly 7,800 feet above sea-level. It is irregular in form, having extensions called West Arm, South Arm, and South-East Arm. The Yellowstone River flows through the lake, or as sometimes given, the lake is an expansion of the river. It is about 20 miles long and 15 miles wide.

Yellowstone, a river which has its rise in the Shoshone Mountains, in the northwestern

part of Wyoming, near lat. 44° N. It flows north, entering the Yellowstone National Park (q.v.) at the southeast corner, and passes through Yellowstone Lake, which is usually called an expansion of the river. From the lake the course is northeast, east, then northeast to the Missouri River, which it enters at Buford, on the boundary between Montana and North Dakota. The total length of the stream is about 1,000 miles. It is navigable for nearly 800 miles from its junction with the Missouri. The largest tributaries come from the south and are Big Horn, Powder, Rosebud, and Tongue rivers. The Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone (see YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK) is one of the wonderful sights in a region of wonderful scenery.

Yellowstone National Park, a government reservation in the northwestern part of Wyoming and extending into Idaho and Montana about 11 miles along the western boundary of the park and into Montana about three miles along the northern boundary. In 1872 Congress set apart 3,575 square miles as "a public pleasure ground and a game preserve." In 1891 a tract of nearly 2,000 square miles was added to the east and south, making the total area 5.575 square miles. The mean altitude of the plateau portion is 7,800 feet. The "Continental Divide" passes through from the southeast to the northwest, and the "Rocky Mountain Divide" through the western part. Surrounding the park are numerous snow-clad mountains; on the south are the Shoshone Mountains, the Big Game and Teton ranges, on the east an extension of the Shoshone and on the southwest the Teton Range, the Big Bend Ridge on the west, and the Gallatin Range, part in the park, on the northwest. Some of the high peaks on the east are Index, 11,740 feet; Saddle Mountain, 10,676; Sunlight, 10.078; Fortress Mount, 12,073; and Ishawooa Cone, 11,840. Within the limits of the park is the Absaroka Range on the eastern border, with numerous vast peaks; as Table, Humphrey, Schurz, Langford, Chittenden, Cathedral, and Stevenson. In the northeast, and inside the Absaroka Range, are the Specimen Ridge and the Mirror Plateau. In the northern and southern parts of the park are lofty elevations; Mount Holmes of the Gallatin Range and Bunsen Peak are among the highest. In the southern part of the park is Sheridan Mountain, 10,385 feet high, the highest point of the Red Mountains. This elevation was named in honor of Philip H. Sheridan. A large part of the peak is formed of porphyry of a purple-pink color. Mount Washburne in the north is noted as the peak from which large portions of the park may be seen. It was named in honor of H. D. Washburne, who explored this region in 1870. There are over 20 high peaks within the limits of the park. The central plateau is composed of vast quantities of lava, in some places 2,000 feet deep. The Absarokas Range are made up of volcanic rocks, and nearly every part of this peculiar range shows the marks of having gone through a period of volcanic action. Sheridan in the south and Washburne in the north have been active volcanoes. Between Yellowstone and Shoshone lakes is a volcanic ridge about 255 feet in height. Six miles from the Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone is Sulphur Mountain, an immense mound of pure sulphur