672 THE WESTERN WILLET. 
of this species were only beginning to emerge in the consciousness of the 
student, | once came upon a Solitary Sandpiper feeding at the edge of a 
brick-yard pond, in company with a single Spotted and an equally solitary 
Pectoral Sandpiper. There were no other shore birds of any species within 
a mile; but these three were not above five feet apart, having been led into 
a momentary association thru some subtle sense of kinship and recognition 
of common ends. When the observer had conned well the lesson of com- 
parative limicology there afforded, he put the birds to flight. They fled three 
ways with characteristic cries and never an afterthought, apparently, for their 
chance acquaintances. 
“If one happens upon half a dozen of these birds feeding beside a 
leaf-lined pool in the depths of the woods, he may not only see a beauti- 
ful sight, but one out of the ordinary in Sandpiper experiences. The 
birds dart about rapidly, capturing not only slugs, worms, and small crust- 
aceans, but insects as well. Indeed, the wings at times are carried about 
half-raised, as tho the bird were on the very point of flight; and quick 
sallies are made at passing moths and beetles. If a decaying log lies half 
submerged it is sure to be inspected from every point of vantage; and 
the bird is not averse to alighting, on occasion, upon the limb of a convenient 
tree. Again the bird plashes about freely upon the floating vegetation, or 
wades breast deep, taking care, however, that its dainty white bodice shall 
not be soiled. At other times, perhaps, it moves with the sedateness of a 
heron, putting each foot down carefully so as not to roil the water” (The 
Birds of Ohio). 
Dr. Suckley said, “The Solitary Sandpiper is not rare about Puget 
Sound,” but his experience seems to have contradicted that of every recent 
observer. The name does not appear upon any local list since published, 
and I have myself seen the bird only once, at Blaine, in the summer of 1900. 
No. 272. 
WESTERN WILLET. 
ALOU. No. 258a. Catoptrophorus semipalmatus inornatus ( Brewst.). 
Synonyms.—SeEMIPALMATED TATTLER. STONE CURLEW. 
Description.—Adult in summer: Above brownish gray, the head and neck 
streaked with dusky, the feathers of back, etc., with irregular bars, or central 
patches, of dusky, and further varied with some obscure buff; primaries and sec- 
ondaries white, the former broadly tipped and the latter slightly tinged with 
dusky ; upper tail-coverts white, or with a few dusky bars; central tail-feathers 
ashy gray, sometimes faintly barred with blackish; the remaining feathers white 
mottled with ashy; underparts chiefly whitish, clearest on belly, tinged with buffy 
