WESTEBN WILLET 



417 



suffused with buff on neck, breast and sides, where also finely spotted with 

 pale brown. Natal plumage: Top of head and whole back mixed buffy white 

 and clove brown in fine pattern, the latter color predominating; forehead and 

 sides of head buffy white; stripe down middle of forehead dusky; bold stripe 

 from bill to eye, and a narrower one behind eye, clove brown; lower surface 

 of body dull white, with a faint band of dusky across upper chest. 



Marks tor held identification — Large size, straight bill, and gray general 

 appearance; strikingly contrasted white band set in black, displayed on wing 

 when spread (fig. 72); white "rump patch" (upper tail coverts and bases of 

 tail feathers). The shrill cry is distinctive. 



YoiCE — A shrill, high-pitched he-lee-er ; or pill-ivill-willet, or pill-will-wiUy. 



Fig. 72. Outer surface of spread wing of Western 

 Willet, showing color patches. 



About two-fifths natural size. 



Nest — On ground, usually in grass and in the vicinity of water; a slight 

 depression in the surface sparingly lined with grasses, or a well constructed 

 affair of grasses and other available material, even several inches in height 

 (various authors). 



Eggs — 3 to 4, bluntly pear-shaped, measuring in inches, 2.02 to 2.17 by 

 1.47 to 1.58 (in millimeters, 51.3 to 55.2 by 37.4 to 40.2); ground-color, grayish 

 white, buff or olive, with superficial spots of various shades of brown, and 

 deeper ones of purple gray; spots more numerous about larger ends (Goss, 

 1891, p. 195). 



General distribution — Western North America. Breeds from northern 

 Iowa, southern South Dakota, and northeastern California north to eastern 

 Oregon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba; also on coasts of 

 Texas and Louisiana. Winters on coast of California from Humboldt Bay 

 southward, and on coasts of Texas and Louisiana and Gulf coast of Florida, 

 ranging south into Mexico. In spring migration occurs from Mississippi Eiver 

 west to Pacific coast (in California), and in fall ranges eastward to Atlantic 

 coast (modified from Cooke, 1910, p. 62). 



