324 THE SEMIPALMATED SNIPE, OR WILLET. 



breast faintly barred with grey. The upper part of the head, and the hind 

 part and sides of the neck are greyish-white, with longitudinal central grey- 

 ish-brown markings. The scapulars and inner secondaries are greyish-brown, 

 the feathers edged with greyish-white, and lined or mottled with dark brown 

 towards the margins; the smaller wing-coverts plain, the larger darker near 

 the edge and margined with whitish, as are the outer secondaries; the pri- 

 mary quills and their coverts dark brown, the shaft of the outer white. The 

 tail is greyish-white, undulated with light brown, the four outer feathers on 

 each side with only a series of spots on the outer edge, which on the outer- 

 most feathers is almost obliterated. 



Length to end of tail 11 inches, to end of wings 12; wing from flexure 7; 

 tail 3; bill along the back 2 T 2 2, along the edge of lower mandible 2 T \; bare 

 part of tibia 1^; tarsus 2^; middle toe 1 T 2 2, its claw -f^. 



THE SEMIPALMATED SNIPE, OR WILLET. 



fToTANUS SEMIPALMATUS, Lath. 



PLATE CCCXL VII.— Male and Female. 



Many individuals of this fine species spend the winter in our Southern 

 States, and the extent of its migration northwards is comparatively limited. 

 Some are occasionally seen as far eastward as the neighbourhood of Boston, 

 and a few have been known to breed not far from New Bedford in Massa- 

 chusetts; but beyond that state the species may be said to be unknown. 

 Their propensity to remain at all seasons in the immediate vicinity of the 

 coast is such, that they are very seldom met with far inland, even along 

 large rivers, on the margins of which they might find the food they usually 

 prefer. I once shot one in autumn on the lower part of the Ohio, but it 

 was much emaciated, and I concluded that its appearance there was merely 

 accidental. From the mouth of the Mississippi to New York it is pretty 

 generally found during the breeding season; but all the individuals betake 

 themselves in winter to the shores of Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the 

 countries bordering the Mexican Gulf. I have very little doubt that those 

 seen by Mr. Say on the banks of the Missouri had accidentally visited that 



