Shore-bird Shooting 425 



common in the western United States, Texas, and 

 California. Along the west coast it is very nu- 

 merous, and in locations is plentiful throughout 

 the year. This bird is abundant on the prairie, 

 frequenting the sloughs and small alkali lakes. 

 In all of its habits it closely resembles the eastern 

 species. In the breeding season if one approaches 

 the nesting-place of a pair of these birds, — gen- 

 erally some small slough on the prairie, — he is 

 deafened by an unearthly clamor ; first one, then 

 both birds, diving for his head and shrieking pill- 

 willet until he decides to leave. 



WANDERING TATTLER 

 {Heteractitis incanus) 



Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Upper parts, dark 

 lead color ; primaries, dark brown, with white shafts ; superciliary 

 stripe, sides of face, white, finely streaked with dark gray; 

 throat, white, spotted with dark gray ; rest of under parts, white, 

 barred with plumbeous; bill, dusky; feet and legs, greenish 

 yellow. 



Adult male and female in winter plumage — Upper parts, plumtfe- 

 ous ; lower parts, white, washed with plumbeous on sides and 

 across jugulum. 



Young — Resembles the winter plumage, but secondaries, scapulars, 

 and upper tail-coverts indistinctly margined with white, and the 

 plumbeous of sides faintly mottled with white. 



Measurements — Length, 8 inches; wing, 6.50 inches ; oilmen, 1.50 

 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches; middle toe, 1 inch. 



Eggs — Not described. 



Habitat — Breeding range unknown, but a statement that it breeds 

 commonly in British Columbia is probably a mistake. Occurs 

 on the coast of Alaska, from Lynn Canal to Bering Straits, 

 Kamchatka, northeastern Siberia, and the Aleutian, Pribilof, and 



