THE WILLET. 453 
This large and handsome species is easily recognized, and is abundant on both 
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Republic. There is very considerable difter- 
ence of color between the adult and young birds; but the white space on the wings 
is a character always present and easily distinguished. It is the largest bird of this 
group inhabiting the United States. 
Hab. — Entire temperate regions of North America; South America. 
This bird is not very abundant:on the shores of New 
England as a summer visitor and resident; but it is taken 
in considerable numbers in the autumn. It occasionally 
breeds within our limits, usually preferring a sandy island 
to the main shore; but it sometimes selects a locality in a 
marsh for its nest, and has been known to breed in a rye- 
field twenty-miles from the seashore. 
The nest is built about the last week in May. It is 
placed in a slight hollow in the sand or in a tussock of 
grass, and is composed of grasses and weeds, arranged in a 
heap, sometimes three or four inches in depth. It is hol- 
lowed an inch and a half or more, and is sometimes lined 
with softer pieces of grass or weeds. The eggs are four in 
number: they are pyriform in shape, and are abruptly 
pointed from the larger end. They are of a pale-olive color, 
sometimes greenish-drab ; and are marked with blotches of 
two or three shades of brown, which are confluent at the 
larger end, and sometimes almost entirely hide the ground 
color. 
They vary in dimensions from 2.15 by 1.58 inch to 1.98 
by 1.45 inch. When its breeding-place is approached, the 
Willet flies to meet the intruder, and, coursing around over 
his head, utters its shrill cries, like the syllables, ’pill-willet- 
"tat pill willet, vociferously ; and sometimes darting down at 
him, or alighting before him, it endeavors to lead him from 
its nest by pretending lameness. 
When the young are able to fly, the whole brood associate 
with the parents in a flock, and frequent the pools and 
ditches near the beach, where they busily wade about in the 
water, searching for small shell-fish, aquatic insects, mol- 
lusks, &c., on which they feed. When wounded, they take 
