BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 139 



in the water when they have satisfied their hunger, or of 

 wading about, up to their bellies, with slow measured steps. 

 If startled at such times, they rise easily and lightly on wing, 

 fly rather slowly a little distance with dangling legs and out- 

 stretched neck, to soon re-alight and look about with a dazed 

 expression. Just as their feet touch the ground, the long, 

 pointed wings are lifted till their tips nearly meet above, and 

 are then deliberately folded. The Esquimaux Curlews and 

 some other birds have the same habit. The Tattlers are usually 

 silent birds, but when suddenly alarmed, they utter a low and 

 rather pleasing whistle as they fly off, or even without moving." 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill rather longer than the head, straight, slender, com- 

 pressed, both mandibles with narrow grooves; wing long, 

 pointed; tail medium or rather short, rounded; legs rather long, 

 slender; lower half of the tibia naked; toes long, the outer 

 united to the middle by a small membrane, flattened under- 

 neath, marginated; upper parts greenish- brown with numerous 

 small circular and irregular spots of ashy- white; upper tail 

 coverts darker; under parts white; breast and neck before with 

 numerous longitudinal lines of greenish-brown; sides, axillaries 

 and under wing coverts white with numerous transverse narrow 

 bands of dark greenish-brown; under tail coverts white with a 

 few transverse bands of dark brown; quills brownish-black with 

 a slight bronzed or reddish lustre on the primaries; two middle 

 feathers of the tail greenish-brown; other feathers of the tail 

 pu]-e white with about five transverse bands of brownish- black; 

 bill and legs, dark greenish- brown; iris hazel. 



Length, 8 to 8.50; wing, 5; tail, 2.25; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 1.25. 



Habitat, North America. 



SYMPHEMIA SEMIPALMATA (Gmelin). (258.) 



VVILLET. 



The Willet is a summer resident of Minnesota, reaching this 

 latitude about the 20th of April in sparing numbers; never even 

 com nonly represented, yet quite uniformly so. They mani- 

 festly prefer sandy localities during their entire stay, in which 

 places they are more ordinarily found by collectors, yet they 

 are not confined to such by any means, for I have often dis- 

 covered them in extensive marshes, partly overflown with 

 water, feeding after the manner of the Yellow-legs and other 

 waders. They are paired by the first week in May, and build 

 their nests about the 25th; occasionally a little earlier, but 

 oftener a little later, according to the season. I have seen the 



