SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 167 



mottled with grayish ; foreneck heavily streaked; breast and sides heavily- 

 barred with dark brownish gray and more or less washed with buffy ; belly 

 generally white, with sometimes a few bars. Winter plumage. Upper parts 

 brownish gray, unmarked ; tail without bars ; rump and wings as in the adult ; 

 breast washed with grayish ; belly white ; axillars black. L., 15-00 ; W.. 8-00 ; 

 Tar., 2-30; B., 2-15. 



Range. Eastern North America, breeding from Florida to southern New 

 Jersey, and locally and rarely to Maine. 



Washington, rare T. V., Aug. Long Island, T. V., rare in May ; uncom- 

 mon in Aug. and Sept. Sing Sing, A. V. 



Eygs, three to four, clay-color or buffy, thickly spotted with chocolate, 

 chiefly at the larger end, 2-10 x 1-55. 



Willets frequent both fresh- and salt-water marshes, shores, and 

 beaches. If you visit their haunts during the nesting season, on flut- 

 tering wings they will hover above your head or fly low over the 

 marsh to draw you away from their home, uttering, with scarce a mo- 

 ment's cessation, their loudly whistled call of pilly-will-willet, pilly- 

 will-ivillet. All day long, and even at night, I have heard them repeat 

 these notes until, wearied by their persistence, one is thankful to leave 

 them in undisturbed possession of the ground. 



258a. S. s. inornata Brewst. WESTERN WILLET. Slightly larger 

 than the preceding, and, in summer plumage, the upper parts are paler and 

 less heavily marked with black ; the breast is less heavily streaked and more 

 suffused with buffy, and the middle tail-feathers are without black bars. In 

 winter plumage the two forms can be distinguished only by the slight and 

 incon?tant character of size. W., 8-50 ; Tar., 2-50 ; B., 2-40. 



Range. Western United States, breeding from Texas to Manitoba; win- 

 ters on the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas. 



The RUFF (260. Pavoncella pugnax) is an Old-World species which occa- 

 sionally wanders to eastern North America. It has been taken in Maine, 

 Massachusetts, Ontario, Ohio, Long Island, and New Jersey. The adult male 

 may be known by its enlarged ruff, which varies in color from black, chest- 

 nut, and rufous to buffy and whitish. The female is without a ruff, and is 

 otherwise very different from the male. The upper parts are grayish brown, 

 the back, scapulars, and tertials are broadly barred with black, the outer 

 tail-feathers are ashy, the inner ones are barred with buffy and black, the 

 breast is ashy, with concealed black bars, the belly is white. In winter the 

 upper parts are light grayish brown with few or no bars. $ L., 12-50 ; W M 

 7-50 ; Tar., 1-90 ; B., 1-50. 9 L., 10-00 ; W., 6-00 ; Tar., 1-40 ; B., 1-15. 



261. Bartramia longicauda (BecTtst.}. BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER ; 

 UPLAND PLOVER; FIELD PLOVER. Ad. Head and neck streaked with black 

 and ochraceous-buff; back and wing-coverts ochraceous-buff, barred with 

 black; tertials olive, barred with black and margined with ochraceous-buff; 

 primaries fuscous, the outer one barred with white / inner tail-feathers brown- 

 ish gray, outer ones varying from ochraceous-buff to white, all more or less 



