SYMPH. SEMIPALMATA : SEMIPALMATED TATTLER. 233 



drab, much darker (almost as in a Loon's or Jager's 

 egg) in two of the specimens than in the other. In 

 these darker specimens the markings are almost lost 

 in the general heavy color, merely appearing a little 

 darker; they are chiefly evident at the greater end. In 

 the other the markings, of the same general character, are, 

 however, much more conspicuous, owing to the lighter 

 ground. The peculiar coloration of the bird has given 

 rise to the name " spot-rump," by which it is known to 

 sportsmen. 



SEMIPALMATED TATTLER; WILLET. 

 SYMPHEMIA SEMIPALMATA (Gm.) Hartl. 



Chars. Toes semipalmate ; a web of some size between the inner 

 and middle as well as between the outer and middle ; bill stout for 

 this family. Above, in summer, ashy speckled with dusky, 

 sometimes with slight rufescence. Under parts white, some- 

 times with slight rufescence, the throat and breast spotted and 

 streaked with dusky, the sides banded or arrow-headed with the 

 same, the axillars and lining of wings, and edge of wing and 

 primary coverts, blackish ; a great white space on the wings 

 partly overlaid by the coverts. Tail ashy, incompletely barred 

 with blackish, its coverts mostly white. Bill dark ; legs blue. 

 Young, and in winter, chiefly plain ashy above and white below. 

 Length about 16.00 ; wing, 8.00 ; tail, 3.00 ; bill, 2.50 ; tarsus the 

 same. 



This large, stout Tattler, known at a glance by its 

 white-mirrored, black-lined wings and blue legs, is one 

 of the few species of the great family Scolopacidce 

 which regularly and plentifully summer in some portion 

 of New England, though more frequently observed 

 during spring and fall than at any other season of the 

 year. 



