BIRDS OF NEW YORK 329 



Similar but tinged with buff y on the back and sides ; legs bluish ; bill blackish, 

 rather bluish at the base. 



Length 15-17 inches; extent 28; wing 7.5-8.25; tail 3; tarsus 1.95-2.6; 

 middle toe and claw 1.65-1.7 ; bill 2-2.5. 



The Willet inhabits the Atlantic States from Florida to southern New 

 Jersey, and rarely to the coast of Maine. Its winter home is from the Southern 

 States to Brazil. Formerly it may have bred on Long Island, but Giraud 

 knew of no nest having been found, nor have any since been recorded. 

 It hardly seems probable that all the willets which appear on Long Island 

 during July, August and September are migrants from more northern 

 breeding grounds, and the species undoubtedly journeys up the coast in 

 search of fresh feeding grounds after the breeding season is over. These 

 flights of willets, however, are comparatively rare in recent years. In Mr 

 Butcher's Long Island Notes, I find records of numerous flocks observed 

 during the first two weeks in August 1884, 1885, 1886 and 1888. A few 

 are sometimes observed as early as July 4th or nth, but the flight rarely 

 begins before July 25th; the last birds are usually seen from the 17th to 

 the 25th of August, but sometimes as late as September i6th. There are 

 few spring records in recent years, May 11, 1886; May 6, 1887; and April 

 29, 1890, being all that I find in Mr Butcher's Notes. In the interior of 

 New York this species was formerly a more or less regular visitant [see 

 Birds Cen. N. Y. p. 33]. The following are the only records which I have 

 since 1880: 



Canandaigua, N. Y. Aug. 31, 1882. Dr M. S. Gooding 

 Lake Ontario, N. Y. Sept. 12, 1885. David Bruce 

 Chautauqua lake, N. Y. May 10, 1897. ■^- E- Kibbie 

 Erie, Pa. Apr. 24, 1902. (2). Todd, Birds of Erie, p. 542 



The Willet, or Semipalmated tattler, can scarcely be mistaken for any 

 of our other shore birds, its remarkable wing pattern and its loud whistle 

 of pilly-will-willet establishing its identity beyond question at a great 

 distance. It was formerly much sought by Long Island gunners, but 

 Giraud remarked that its flesh though palatable was not considered so 

 great a delicacy as its eggs. 



