ZU FRANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



No. 6. Semipalmated Tatler — Totanus Semipalmatus j 



Lath. — Vulgo, the Willet. 



Scolopax semipalmata, Wils. Totanus semipalmatus, Semipalmated Tatler, 

 Sw. »fe Rich. Semipalmated Snipe or Willet, Nutt. Semipalmated Snipe 

 or Willet, Aud. 



" Specific Character. — Secondaries and basal part of the pri- 

 maries white ; toes connected at base by broad membranes. 

 Adult with the head and neck brown, intermixed with grayish- 

 white ; breast and sides of the body spotted and waved with 

 brown on white ground ; abdomen white ; tail coverts white, 

 barred with brown ; tail grayish brown, barred with darker 

 brown — the outer two feathers lighter; rump brown ; fore, pait 

 of the back and wing coverts brown, largely spotted with dull- 

 white ; primaries blackish-brown, broadly banded with white ; 

 secondaries white. Length fifteen inches and a half, wing eight, 



" This handsome species is well known to all our bay-men by 

 the name of ' Willet,' by which appellation it is equally fami- 

 liar to all sportsmen who fancy bay shooting. 



" It passes the winter in the Southern States, and at the ap- 

 proach of spring commences migrating northward. It arrives 

 on the shores of Long Island about the first of May, and is com- 

 mon on the seacoast of New Jersey at the same period. It is 

 quite common to the Island, though it cannot be said to be very 

 abundant, nor is it so plentiful as it is at Egg Harbor, where it 

 breeds. In the latter part of May its nest is found on the salt 

 marshes among the grass, of which material, and a few rushes, 

 it is foiTned. The eggs — four in number, are rather more than 

 two inches in length, and about an inch and a half in breadth, 

 and very thick at the largest end — the color dark olive, blotched 

 ^vilh blackish -brown, which markings are more numerous at the 

 great end. 



"During the season of incubation, if you approach its nest, it 

 rises from the marsh and flies wildly around, filling the air with 

 its shrill cries, which consist of three notes, which are so vie- 



