THE WILLET. 525 



Nesting. Not known to breed in Ohio, altho supposed to have done so 

 formerly. Eggs, 4, greenish white or dark brownish olive, spotted boldly with 

 various shades of umber-brown, and with obscure, purplish shell-markings 

 (Davie). Av. size, 2.12 x 1.54 (53.9 x 39.1). 



General Range. Eastern temperate North America, south to the West Indies 

 and Brazil. Breeds from Florida to New Jersey, and locally and rarely to Maine. 

 Accidental in Bermuda and Europe. 



Range in Ohio. Rare migrant. No recent records. 



OUR knowledge of the Willet within this state is nearly confined to the 

 following brief account penned by Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, June 4th, i84O l : 

 "This bird is a common visitor to the shores of Lake Erie, both in the spring 

 and autumn. On the 3rd of July, 1838, I shot an old specimen from a flock 

 of more than twenty individuals, that were in the habit of visiting Ohio City, 

 at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, for a number of days in succession. The 

 young birds appeared here on the first of July of the present year, and con- 

 siderable numbers have been shot by the sportsmen. A few years since they 

 remained here during the whole of the summer, and probably reared their 

 young in the neighborhood. They are very abundant about some of the 

 upper lakes." 



Considerable interest attaches to the Willet, both on account of its large 

 size and general distribution, and from the fact that its breeding range in- 

 cludes the Southern and Middle States. The effect, therefore, of civilization 

 may be easily noticed in the case of this bird ; and that effect, as we might 

 expect, has been disastrous. There are no recent notes of its appearance in 

 Ohio, and it is probably upon the vanishing point here and hereabouts. 



The Willet is described as an excessively noisy bird, filling the air with 

 its shrill cries of " pill-will-ivillit , will-ivillit , pill-ivill-ivillit" at all hours of the 

 day and often at night. Except during the breeding season it is quite wary, 

 and difficult to approach even by stealth. While nesting, however, it becomes 

 silent and nearly impassive, except when its nest or young are immediately 

 threatened, in which case it throws reserve to the wind and summons its 

 neighbors to join with it in the boldest denunciation of the intruder. 



Altho formerly quite generally distributed in the interior, it is now 

 more abundant coastwise, and enjoys some measure of protection in a few 

 favored spots along the Atlantic Coast, notably at Cobb's Island, Virginia. 



1 Amer. Jour. Sci. and Arts, XL,. 1841, pp. 19-24. 

 (Wheaton, Catalogue, pp. 216 and 220.) 



