SCOLOPACID.E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — SYMPHEMIA. 



285 



lower rather farther forward. Chin-feathers reaching to middle of nostrils. Bill longer than head ; 

 about equal to tarsus, which is more than one and one half times the middle toe. Both toes webbed ; 

 the emargination of inner web as far forward as the middle of basal joint of middle toe, the outer 



S. seviipalmata. 



reaching nearly to the end. Bare portion of tibia rather less than middle toe without claw. Tail 

 nearly even, or little rounded, not half the wings. 



Syniphemia semipalmata. 



THE WILLET. 



Scolopax semiiKdmata, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 659. — "Wils. Am. Om. YII. 1813, -27, jil. 56, fig. 3. 

 Totanus scmipalmatus, Temm. Man. Oni. II, 182S, 637. — Sw. & PticH. F. B. A. II. 1831, 388, pi. 



67. — AuD. Oni. Biog. III. 1835, 510 ; V. 1839, 585, pi. 271 ; Synop. 1839, 245 ; B. Am.Y. 1842, 



324, pi. 347. — CouES, Key, 1872, 258 ; Check List, 1873, no. 431 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 494. 

 Totanus (CatoptropJwrus) semipalmatus, BoNAr. Synop. 1828, 328. — Nutt. J\lan. II. 1834, 144. 

 Sym}}he7nia semipalmata, Haetl. Eev. Zool. 1845, 342. — Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 729. — 



Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 537. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 552. — Coues, Check 



List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 632. 

 Totanus crassirostris, Yif.ill. Nouv. Diet. 1816, 406. 

 Sijmphemia atlaniica, Eafixesque, Jour. Phys. Ixxxviii. 1819, 417. 

 Totanus speculiferus, Cuvieu, Peg. An. I. 1817, 351. 



Hab. Temperate North America, south to Brazil ; West Indies. Accidental in Europe. 



Sp. Char. Largest of American Scolopacidte, except genera Numcnius and Limosa. Primaries 

 black, with nearh^ the basal half white, producing a very conspicuous patch on the spread wing. 

 Summer adult : Above, light brownish gray, streaked on head and neck, and spotted and barred 

 on the liack, etc., with blackish ; beneath, white, tinged with ashy on foreneck and with buff along 

 sides, the former, with jugulum, spotted with dusky, and the latter barred with the same ; upper 

 tail-coverts white ; tail ashy, more or less distinctly mottled transversely with a deeper shade of 

 the same ; wing-coverts plain ash-gray ; axillars and lining of wing plain sooty black. Winter 

 plumage : Above, plain ash-gray ; beneath, imniaculate dull white, the foreneck shaded with 

 grayish. Young : Above, brownish gray, the feathers margined with pale ochraceous : sides much 

 tinged with the same, and finely mottled transversely with grayish. Bill black ; legs and feet 



