258 SNIPES AND SANDPIPERS 



Robin, Bronzed Grackle or Cedar Waxwing. Eggs, 4, "pale greenish-white, 

 heavily blotched and spotted chiefly at the larger ends with vandyke-brown, 

 chestnut-brown, and purplish gray," 1*36 x "98. (Raine, Ottawa Nat., 1904, 

 135-138; Auk, 1905, 100). Date, n. Alberta, June 9. 



This is a wood Sandpiper. It is rarely found on the beaches or salt 

 marshes near the sea, but frequents fresh-water ponds, or lakes and 

 woodland streams, both in the lowlands and mountains. It is a quieter, 

 more dignified bird than the Spotted Sandpiper, and as a rule only 

 utters its tweet-tweet when flushed. The nest of this species has long 

 been sought for, but it was not until 1903 that, like its European repre- 

 sentative, the Green Sandpiper, it was found laying in the nests of tree- 

 building birds. 



The GREEN SANDPIPER (257. Helodromas ochropus) has been twice 

 recorded from America (Nova Scotia and Hudson Bay, Coues Auk, XIV, 

 1897, 210). 



258. Catoptrophorus semipalmatus semipalmatus (GmeL). WILLET. 

 Ads. in summer. Upperparts brownish gray, the head and neck streaked, 

 and the back barred with black, and sometimes buffy, the centers of the 

 feathers being occasionally wholly black ; basal half of primaries and greater 

 part of secondaries white ; upper tail-coverts white with a few blackish bars ; 

 central tail-feathers ashy, indistinctly barred with blackish; outer ones whitish, 

 lightly 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. Ads. and Juv. in winter. 

 Upperparts brownish gray, unmarked; tail gray 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. N. and S. A. Breeds from Va. (formerly N. S.) s. to Fla. and 

 the Bahamas; winters from the Bahamas to Brazil and Peru; accidental in 

 Bermuda and Europe. 



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

 mon in Aug. and Sept. (Butcher). Ossining, A. V. SE. Minn, rare T. V., 

 Apl. 10. 



Nest, in grassy marshes. Eggs, 3-4, clay-color or buffy, thickly spotted 

 with chocolate, chiefly at the larger end, 2' 10 x 1'55. Date, Sapelo Is., Ga., 

 Apl. 22; Cobb's Is., Va., May 16. 



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 moment's 

 cessation, their loudly whistled call of pilly-will-willet, pilly-will- 

 willet. 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. 



JOB, H. K., Wild Wings, 250 (nesting). 



258a. C. s. inornatus (Brewst.} . WESTERN WILLET. Slightly larger than 

 the preceding, and, in summer plumage, upperparts paler and Less heavily 

 marked with black; breast less heavily streaked and more suffused with 

 buffy, middle tail-feathers without black bars. In winter plumage the two 

 forms can be distinguished only by the slight and inconstant character of 

 size. W., 8'50; Tar., 2'50; B., 2'40. 



Range. W. N. Am. Breeds from cen. Ore., s. Alberta, and s. Manitoba 



