482 BIKDa — SCOLOPACID^. 



Snb-genns Symphemia. Toes ■with two aubequal webs ; legs bluish or dark. 

 ToTANua SEMiPALMATUS (Gm.) Temm. 



Semipalmated Tattler; "Willet, 



Totanui gemipaJmatiu, Kirtlamd, Oliio Geolog. Snrv., 1838, 165 ; Am. Jonrn. Sci. and 

 Arts, xl, 1841, 24.— Whbaton, Food of Bird8,*etc., Ohio Agrio. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 

 572 ; Eeprint, 12.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 15 ; Revised List, Jonm. Cln. 

 Soc. Nat. Bist., i, 1879, 183 ; Eepriut, 17 ; Field Notes, ib., ii, 18c0, 1^7. 



Symphemia semipalmata, Wheaton, Ohio Agrio. Eep. for 1850, 1861, 369 ; Reprint, 11. 



Scolopax semipalmata, Gmeun, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 659, 

 Totanua eemipalmatug, Temminck, Man. Orn., ii, 637, 

 Symphemia sem^almata, Harxland, R. Z., 184,5, 343. 



Bill straight, comparatively stout, grooved little if any more than half its length. 

 In summer, gray above, with numerous black marks, white below, the jngalum streaked, 

 the biaiist, sides and orissum barred or with arrow shaped niarks of dusky fin winter, 

 and in yonng birds, all these dark marks few or wanting, except on jugulum); upper 

 tail-coverts, most of the secondaries, and basal half of primaries, white ; ends of prim- 

 aries, their coverts, lining of wings, and asillars, black ; bill blueish or dark. Toes 

 with two conspicuous basal webs. Length, 12-16 ; wing, 7-8 ; tail, 2^3 ; bill or tarsus, 

 2-2f ; tibia bare, 1 or more, middle toe and claw, 1^2. 



Habitat, Temperate North America, north to 56°, but chiefly United States. Breeds 

 throughout its United States range. Resident in the Sontharn States. Common in the 

 interior but more so along the coast. West Indies. Central Amgfrica. Accidental in 

 Europe, 



Not common spring and fall migrant, probably breeds in northern 

 Ohio. Dr, Kirtland mentions their occarrence on the lake shore in 1838, 

 and, as quoted on page 220, their residence daring *immer. Mr. Lang- 

 don gives it as a rare spring and fall migrant, I have never seen it in 

 this vicinity. 



Dr. Ck)ue8 gives the following description of their nesting and habits : 



"The nest is placed near the water of some secluded pool, or in the midst of a manh, 

 whether fresh or salt, in a tusSook of grass or rushes. It is a rude structure, of the sim - 

 pleot materials, raised a little way from the ground, and with a shallow Indentation. 

 The eggs are very variable in all respects. As to size and shape, the following measure- 

 ments show the differences : 2.90 by 2.45; 1.95 by 1.50 ; 2.00 by 1.50; 2.05 by 1.55; 2.12 

 by 1.50 ; averaging about 2.00 by 1.50. They are less pointedly pyriform than the eggs 

 of the smaller Tattlers and Sandpipers. The ground is sometimes brownish-olive, or 

 drab, or clay-color ; sometimes, again, quite bnify-browu ; in a few cases greenish or 

 grayish-whitle. The spotting is bold and distinct, bat little massed even at the greater 

 end, where, though the spots are largest and most numeitpus, they generally remain dis- 

 tinct. The spots are mostly clean-edged and sharp, (rf moderate size, but sometimes 

 quite fine and soratcjiy. They are of various umber-brown shades, and accompanied 

 with the usual obsolete shell-markings. 



Under ordinary circumstances Willets are notoriously restless, wary, and noisy birds; 

 but their nature is changed, or, at any rate, held in abeyance, during and for a short 



