?46 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



eyes, catches them deftly as they flee from the 

 disturbance. This bird seems to feed very largely 

 on aquatic insects, small mollusks, etc., but it 

 destroys grasshoppers, moths, and other destruc- 

 tive land insects, some of which it pursues and 

 catches easily on the wing. 



Edward Howe Forbush. 



The Western, or Cinnamon, Solitary Sandpiper 

 (Hclodroiiias solitariiis cinuainomciis) is not al- 

 ways distinguishable from the eastern Solitary 

 Sandpiper. It averages larger and the spots on 

 the upper parts are or approach a -cinnamon 

 brown. It occurs in western North and South 

 .\merica, breeding north of the United States. 



WILLET 



Catoptrophorus semipalmatus semipalmatus 



.\. O. U. Number 258 See Color Plate ^y 



Other Names. — Semipalmated Snipe; Spanish 

 Plover; Stone Curlew; Duck Snipe; WiU-willet ; Pill- 

 will-willet ; Bill-willy; Humility; Pied-wing Curlew. 



General Description. — Length, 16 inches. Color, 

 gray, light below and dark above, with dark markings; 

 a good deal of white on wings, and the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts white. Bill, slender, straight, and 

 longer than head ; toes, webbed at base. 



Color. — Adults in Sum.mer: General color, ashy, 

 lighter below; crown and back of neck streaked with 

 dusky; shoulders and back with spots and specks of 

 the same color; rump, upper tail-covcrts, and tail, white, 

 the tail barred with narrow traverse streaks of brown; 

 primaries, dusky-brown with a large zi'Iiite space at base, 

 this color invading secondaries ; primaries beneath, 

 blackish, the white showing two conspicuous areas in 

 flight ; lores, whitish ; a dusky streak from bill to eye ; 

 throat, narrowly streaked ; breast and sides, thickly 



( Cniclin ) 



marked, with narrow traverse arrowhead bars ; bill, 

 bluish-horn, blackening toward tip; legs, pale lavender; 

 iris, brown. .Adults in Winter: Above, light ashy 

 with a tinge of brown, with little or no darker marking ; 

 upper tail-coverts, white ; wing, similar to summer 

 plumage ; below, pale ashy or white shaded with gray on 

 breast and sides; sides of head, pale brown; bill, paler 

 than in summer ; a white eye-ring. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In a tussock of grass or 

 weeds, close to the water, in fresh- or salt-water 

 marshes ; a carelessly built structure of small reeds and 

 grass. Eggs : 4, greenish-white or dark brownish-olive, 

 boldly marked with spots in various shades of brown 

 and lavender. 



Distribution. — North and South America ; breeds 

 from Virginia ( formerly Nova Scotia) south to Florida 

 and the Bahamas ; winters from the Bahamas to Brazil 

 and Peru ; accidental in Bermuda and Europe. 



; / !/ 



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W- 





Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



WILLET {\ nat. size) 

 A noisy, self-assertive bird 



