176 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



XCI. SYMPHEMIA Rafinesque. 1819. 

 258. Willet. 



Symphemia semipalmata (fiwEi..) Hartl. 1845. 



A common spring and autumn migrant in Newfoundland. 

 {Reeks.) Common in summer and fall in Nova Scotia. Breeds 

 at Port Petpiswick. {Downs) Rather common at Grand Manan, 

 New Brunswick. {Herrick.) Very little is known of this species 

 in Ontario. On two occasions I have seen it brought in from 

 the Hamilton marsh by gunners, but I never saw it alive. {Mc- 

 Ilwraith.) 



2i,%a. Western Willet. 



Symphemia semipalmata inomata Brewst. 1887. 



This is a common species in the prairie region west of Mani- 

 toba. It frequents the margins of saline ponds and brackish 

 marshes from western Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains, and 

 from Lat. 49° to 56°. It breeds throughout its range. One 

 specimen taken at Clover Point,Victoria, August 8th, 1898, by 

 Mr. J. Henley. {Fannin. 



Breeding Notes. — First seen at Indian Head, Assa., May 6th, 

 1892. It was quite common a few days later, and spread itself 

 through the marshes where it breeds in considerable numbers ; 

 breeding also in great profusion in the marshes around Crane 

 Lake in June, 1894. {Spreadborough.) On May 23rd, 1883, on the 

 Alkali Plain, north of the land ofifice at Turtle Mountain, I started 

 a Willet from her nest, which was placed in a slight hollow, 

 shaded on one side by the skull of a buffalo and on the other by 

 a tuft of grass. It contained four eggs, ground color, dark olive- 

 brown, with h'eavy, round, dark spots of brown and purple, evenly 

 distributed without any approach to a rind about the large end. 

 {Thompson.) This species breeds in both Manitoba and Alberta. 

 In the latter Province, at Buffalo Lake, I found the young in the 

 grass on July 4th, 1895. {Dippe.) 



MISEUM specimens. 



Seven specimens ; two taken at Sounding Lake Alberta, by 

 Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, in June, 1886. All the others were taken by Mr. 



