The Western Wlllet {Catoptrophoms semipalmatus) 



By F. E. L. Beal 



Length : 15 inches. 



Range: Breeds from Virginia (formerly from Nova Scotia) south to Florida 

 and the Bahamas ; winters from the Bahamas to Brazil and Peru. 



The willet, including under this name both the eastern and the western forms, 

 ranges widely over the United States and formerly bred in suitable localities over 

 much of our territory. On the Atlantic it nested from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and probably small numbers yet nest on some of the sandy islands south- 

 ward. At first thought it may seem strange that a bird so abundant and so widely 

 distributed as the willet should have been so reduced in numbers, but the real 

 wonder is that any remain after the treatment the species has been subjected to. 

 The bird is wary enough, and when alarmed informs the whole neighborhood by 

 its loud outcries of the presence of danger. Yet as the result of being shot in 

 season and out of season the species has at length been brought within measurable 

 distance of the end. This statement applies more particularly to the eastern bird. 

 The western form has escaped better, and in fall many of the western-bred birds 

 visit the Atlantic coast. The process of exterminating our eastern willet was 

 accelerated along the coast by the quite uniform practice of robbing the nests for 

 the large and palatable eggs. Under the circumstances, no prophet was needed 

 to foretell the inevitable end. To what extent the willet will be affected by the 

 present Federal regulations remains to be seen. The essential facts regarding 

 the willet and the fate that awaits it are known to many sportsmen, but it is to 

 be feared that the destruction of this and other species may be hastened by the 

 feeling among them that if the residents of one particular State or locality do not 

 get the few remaining shorebirds others will. 



Description. — Adult in summer: Above brownish gray, the head and neck 

 streaked with dusky, the feathers of back, etc., with irregular bars, or central 

 patches, or dusky, and further varied with some obscure buff ; primaries and sec- 

 secondaries white, the former broadly tipped and the latter slightly tinged with 

 dusky ; upper tail-coverts white, or with a few dusky bars ; central tail-feathers 

 ashy gray, indistinctly barred with blackish ; the remaining feathers white mot- 

 tled with ashy ; lower parts white, tinged with grayish on fore-neck, and with 

 buffy on sides ; the fore-neck heavily streaked, the breast and sides heavily barred 

 with brownish dusky ; belly sometimes faintly barred ; axillars and lining of wing 

 dusky ; bill dusky ; feet and legs dark bluish. Winter plumage : Above ashy gray, 

 lighter on neck; below white unmarked, the fore-neck gray tinged. Immature: 

 Like adult in winter, but feathers of back edged with pale ochraceous; below 

 tinged or faintly mottled with brownish gray on neck, chest and sides ; otherwise 

 unmarked. 



Recognition Marks. — Curlew size ; extensive white on wing with large size 

 distinctive ; semipalmate feet. 



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