526 THE WILLET. 



brave defender. Like the young of other Waders, the little 

 Pipers are precocious, running as soon as they are free from 

 the shell. They are covered with a gray down, mottled with 

 brown, and their soft notes at once resemble those of the 

 parents. As is the case with all the \\X.\\& precoces, they are 

 ever on the alert for any alarm note given by the wary 

 parent, and will squat so closely on the sand, which they 

 resemble in color, that it is almost impossible to detect them. 

 The food of the Piping Plover consists of small crusta- 

 ceans, and marine insects in general; and being commonly 

 in good condition, its flesh is very savory. It is found in 

 winter from South Carolina to Florida Keys, and is abund- 

 ant at this time in the West India Islands, where a few 

 probably remain to breed. 



THE WILLET. 



That large and elegant wader, the Willet, Humility or 

 White-wing [Totattus semipalmafus), breeds in the marshes of 

 the Chebogue and Tusket Rivers, in Yarmouth County, 

 Nova Scotia. Mr. Benjamin Doan, of the City of Yar- 

 mouth, had the young in the down from the former locality; 

 and I was credibly informed that they are quite common 

 in the latter. 



This bird, which I find occasionally on Niagara River in 

 the migrations, is some 14.50 in length, wing 7.50, tail 2.75, 

 bill 2.25. The bill and feet are light blue, the former dusky 

 at the tip. In its summer plumage, the head and neck are 

 brownish-gray streaked with dusky; the upper part of the 

 back, and the scapulars, also brownish-gray, the feathers 

 being centered or barred with dark-brown; the lower part 

 of the back, olivaceous-gray; wing-coverts gray, the centers 

 lined with dusky; the basal half of the dusky primaries is 

 clear white, the white secondaries adjoining making a large 



