OTHER SNIPES AND SANDPIPERS 303 



VIII. — THE WILLET 



There are two willets so much alike as easily to be 

 mistaken. The Eastern variety is found from the At- 

 lantic westward to the Mississippi. The Western va- 

 riety inhabits the western portion of North America 

 to the Mississippi. The latter bird, according to the 

 ornithologists, is a little larger and somewhat grayer. 

 Elliot says that in winter the two forms cannot be 

 distinguished from each other, save possibly by the 

 longer bill of the Western variety, " though this is not 

 always reliable." As I have had occasion to remark, 

 the sportsmen are not much in sympathy with ornitho- 

 logical variety-makers, especially when the differences 

 are slight. From the sportsman's point of view the 

 Eastern and Western willet are the same. There is 

 really a much greater difference in the gunners than 

 in the game, and the willets and other slightly shaded 

 varieties of game birds, glancing back at their human 

 enemies, might with more propriety classify them as 

 blondes, brunettes, or red-heads. 



The two willets are found often in the same locality. 

 They are among the largest and best of the bay birds. 

 Second in size only to the godwits and curlews, their 

 length is about sixteen inches. 



They are, when pursued at all, very wild and wary 

 and difficult to approach. They are more often shot 

 when flying past the decoys set out for the other 

 waders, and do not come to the decoys nearly so well 

 as many of the others.^ The name is derived from the 

 noisy call of the bird. It is often called *'pil willet." 



