BIRDS OF KANSAS. 195 



fewer, finer and fainter, on a much paler ( grayish drab ) ground; those beneath 

 duller, more confused or broken, and bordered by pinkish salmon, which often 

 spreads over or sutfuses the entire under parts, excepting the abdomen; middle 

 tail feathers either quite immaculate or very faintly barred. {Brewster:) 



Stretch of 

 Length. whig. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 15.00 28.50 8.25 3.45 2.50 2.50 



Female... 14.50 28.00 8.15 8.25 2.50 2.00 



The birds inhabit the salt and fresh water shores and marsh j 

 lands, where they move with an easy, graceful carriage; in flight 

 they are swift and strong. Their food consists of various small 

 forms of life that such places afford; and, in searching for the 

 same, I have seen them turn over shells and push aside pebbles. 



I have met with this noisy, restless bird on the Pacific coast, 

 at Altata, Mexico, San Diego, California, and Whatcom, Wash- 

 ington. At the latter place I onlj'^ noticed a pair, but found 

 them breeding in abundance on the Gulf coast of Texas; also 

 a few at Lake Como^ Wyoming. At such times they mani- 

 fest great love and anxiety for their eggs and young, flying with 

 tremulous wings close about an intruder, continually uttering 

 their loud, sharp " Pill-will-willet, " often dropping to the ground 

 or alighting in trees, scolding vehemently all the time — no let 

 up. On one occasion I had to kill two pairs that were nesting 

 near a blind at the edge of the water where I was secreted, as 

 their notes of alarm kept the rare birds I desired away. 



Their nests are placed in tussocks of grass, usually near the 

 water's edge; they are quite bulky, and made of grasses and 

 other growths at hand. Eggs four; the ground color varying 

 from buff to olive and grayish white, spotted and blotched — 

 thickest about the larger end, with various shades of brown, and 

 shell stains of purple gray; in shape, pyriform. A set of four 

 eggs, taken April 30th, 1882, near Corpus Christi, Texas, from 

 a nest in tall grass, measure: 2,02x1.52, 2.05x1.47, 2.13x1.56, 

 2.17x1.68. 



Genus BARTRAMIA Lessox. 

 "Upper mandible grooved laterally to within the terminal fourth, the lower 

 not quite so far. Culmen concave to near the tip, where it is slightly decurved; 

 gouys straight. Mouth deeply cleft, almost as far back as the anterior cauthus. 

 The culmen only about two-thirds the commissure, shorter than the head or 

 tarsus, and about equal to middle toe with claw. Feathers extending much 



