148 WADING BIRDS. 



end. According to Wilson, the eggs are very palatable as food. 

 The young, covered with a gray-colored down, run off as soon 

 as freed from the shell, and are led about by the mother in 

 quest of their proper food, while the vociferous male keeps 

 careful watch for their safety. On entering these breeding- 

 places the spectator is beset by the Willets flying wildly around 

 and skimming over his head with the clamorous cry oi pill-will- 

 •wilkt, accompanied at times, when much excited and alarmed 

 by an approach to the nest, with a loud clicking note, in the 

 manner of the Avocet. Exhausted with their vigilant and de- 

 fensive exertions, at times they utter a sad and plaintive note, 

 and occasionally alighting, slowly close their long, silvery, and 

 party-colored wings, as if acting a part to solicit compassion. 

 Among their most common and piratical enemies are the 

 Crows, who roam over the marshes in quest of eggs, and as 

 soon as they appear are attacked by the Willets in united num- 

 bers, who with loud vociferations pursue them off the ground. 

 During the term of incubation the female, fatigued with her 

 task, and occasionally leaving her eggs to the influence of the 

 ardent sun, resorts to the shore, and deeply wading, washes and 

 dresses her plumage, frequently emerging, and performing her 

 ablutions with an air of peculiar satisfaction. Indeed, the 

 Willets generally wade more than most of their tribe ; and 

 when disabled from flying by a wound, they take to the water 

 without hesitation, and swim with apparent ease. The peculiar 

 note which characterizes and gives name to this remarkable 

 species of Chevalier is only uttered by the adults; and the 

 call of the young when associated by themselves appears to 

 be a kind of shrill and plaintive whistle almost like that of the 

 Curlew. The Willet subsists chiefly on small shell-fish, aquatic 

 insects, their larvae and mollusca, in quest of which it constantly 

 resorts to the muddy shores and estuaries at low water. In 

 the fall, when the flocks of young birds associate, which may 

 be easily known by the grayness of their plumage, they are 

 selected by the gunners in preference to the older and darker 

 birds, being tender, fat, and fine-flavored game. In the 

 months of October and November they gradually pass on to 



