WESTERN' WILLET 39 



a cloud ; gray birds and brown birds so contrasted in color as to be discrimi- 

 nated beyond risk of error, even wlien too far away for the staring white wing 

 patches of the willets to be longer discernible. 



Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1916) has "well described their habits, 

 as beach birds at this season, as follows : 



In the flocks of brown godwits the few gray willets looked small. They fed in 

 the same waj' as the godwits, though their bills were shorter and they could 

 not probe so deep, but they ran their bills ahead of them through the wet 

 sand, probed as far as they could reach, and then trotted back before the 

 oncoming waves. A thoughtless one sat down just at the edge of the water 

 line one day, its back toning in with the sand, its long legs stretched out before 

 it ; but soon after it was comfortably settled up came the foam and it had to 

 bend forward on its tarsus, ra'se itself, and flee up the beach. I often saw one 

 resting, standing on one leg, or sitting at ease with white rump showing. 

 When stretching the black of the wings showed effectively as it does both when 

 the birds fly up and when they alight with wings raised over the back. Willet, 

 ivillet, they often called as they went. 



DISTRIBITTION 



Range. — United States and southern Canada (casually Alaska), 

 south to northern South America. 



Breeding range. — North to Oregon (Fort Klamath and Camp 

 Harney) ; Montana (Bozeman) ; Alberta (probably Edmonton and 

 Buffalo Lake) ; Saskatchewan (probably Quill Lake and Indian 

 Head) ; Manitoba (Moose Mountain and Turtle Mountains) ; North 

 Dakota (Cando and Larimore) ; Minnesota (Herman and Madison) ; 

 and probably formerly Illinois (Beividere and Glen Ellyn). East 

 to probably formerly Illinois (Glen Ellyn). South to probably 

 formerly Illinois (Glen Ellyn) ; Iowa (probably Newton and form- 

 erly Boone) ; Nebraska (Long Pine, Kennedy, Garden County, and 

 Morrill County) ; Wyoming (probably Big Piney) ; Utah (Parleys 

 Park and Salt Lake) ; and northern California (Beckwith). West 

 to northern California (Beckwith, Grasshopper Valley, Alturas, 

 and Goose Lake) ; and Oregon (probably Tule Lake and Fort 

 Klamath). Non-breeding birds have been observed in summer as far 

 south as Lower California (Mazatlan and San Quintin Bay) ; Colo- 

 rado (Barr) ; Florida (Pensacola) ; and Alabama (Petit Bois Island). 



Winter range. — North to California (Humboldt Bay) ; Texas 

 (Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Eockport, and Refugio County) ; prob- 

 ably Louisiana; and Florida (Amelia Island). East to Florida 

 (Amelia Island, Dummitts, and the Florida Keys) ; Tamaulipas 

 (Tampico) ; probably Honduras (San Pedro) ; Ecuador (Bay of 

 Santa Elena) ; and Peru (Tumbez). South to Peru (Timibez) ; and 

 the Galapagos Islands (Albemarle). West to the Galapagos Islands 

 (Albemarle and Abingdon) ; Costa Eica (Lepanto) ; Guerrero (Aca- 

 2316—29 4 



