EASTERN WILLET 27 



(Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Timor, Philippines, etc.) ; and 

 Australia. 



Spring 7mg?'ation. — It leaves its winter quarters in South Africa 

 in March, is common in the swamps of Morocco toward the end of 

 April, fairly plentiful in Tunisia in April and also in numbers in 

 Egypt, some remaining till May, Most have left Iraq by mid May, 

 and the departure from India, Ceylon, and Burma also takes place in 

 May. They pass Gibraltar from ISIarch 9 to early May; Corsica, 

 April 12 to IMay 28; Cyprus, April-May (late date May 20) ; Corfu, 

 April 19-May 6 ; while a few visit the south and east coast of Great 

 Britain in April and May. On the lower Petchora they did not 

 arrive till May 26. 



Fall Tiiigration. — From Portugal it is recorded on August 18, Spain 

 (early date, August 4), passes through Italy in some numbers from 

 August to October, leaving Sweden in September and passing the 

 eastern Pyrenees in September-October. It reaches Iraq in August, 

 but rarely stays after October; arrives in India and Burn^ in 

 August; and in South Africa in September-October, early dates, 

 August, Transvaal (August 28) and Zambesi River. 



Casual records. — Faeroes (H. C. Muller), Madeira (R. Gomez), 

 Canaries (occasional D. A. Bannerman), Hawaiian Isles, and Sanak 

 Island, Alaska (C. Little John). 



Egg dates. — In Holland, May 11 to 25 (9 dates) ; Jutland and Ger- 

 many, May 7-25 (about 18 dates, mostly after May 20) ; south 

 Sweden from mid May onward; Lapland, June 3-16 (16 dates), June 

 17-27 (11 dates), July 7 (one date). 



CATOPTROPHORUS SEMIFALMATUS SEMIPALMATUS (Gmelin) 

 EASTERN WILLET 



HABITS 



A score of years or so ago it seemed as if this large showy wader 

 was destined to disappear from at least the northern portion of its 

 range on the Atlantic coast. It had entirely ceased to breed in many 

 of its former haunts and was nearly extirpated in others. Most of 

 the birds that we shot on migration in New England were immature 

 birds from the West. In Wilson's (1832) time it bred " in great 

 numbers — along the shores of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and 

 Maryland." Audubon (1840) wrote that " a few have been known 

 to breed not far from New Bedford in Massachusetts," probably on 

 some of the islands off the coast. In 1875 H. B. Bailey (1876) 

 found it breeding " in large numbers " on Cobb Island, Va. ; when 

 we visited this locality in June, 1907, there were not over two or 

 three pairs of willets breeding there ; they have increased since then 



