SCOLOPACIDJE — THE SNIPE FAMILY — SYMPHEMIA. 
285 
lower rather farther forward. Chin-feathers reaching to middle of nostrils. Bill longer than head ; 
•about equal to tarsus, which is more than one and one half times the middle toe. Both toes webbed ; 
the emargination of inner web as far forward as the middle of basal joint of middle toe, the outer 
S. semipalmata. 
reaching nearly to the end. Bare portion of tibia rather less than middle toe without claw. Tail 
nearly even, or little rounded, not half the wings. 
Symphemia semipalmata. 
THE WILLET- 
Scolopax semipalmata, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 659. — Wils. Am. Ora. VII. 1813, 27, pi. 56, fig. 3. 
Totanus semipalmatus, Temm. Man. Orn. II. 1828, 637. — Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. II. 1831, 388, pi. 
67. — Aud. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 510 ; V. 1839, 585, pi. 274 ; Synop. 1839, 245 ; B. Ara.V. 1842, 
324, pi. 347. — Coues, Key, 1872, 258 ; Check List, 1873, no. 431 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 494. 
Totanus ( Catoptrophorus ) semipalmatus, Bonap. Synop. 1828, 328 . — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 144. 
Symphemia semipalmata, Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1845, 342 . — Cass, in Baird’s B. N. Am. 1858, 729. — 
Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 537. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 552. — Coues, Check 
List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 632. 
Totanus crassirostris, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. 1816, 406. r. 
Sjyinphemia 1 atlantica, Rafinesque, Jour. Phys. lxxxviii. 1819, 4l/. * 
Totanus speculiferus, Cuviep., Reg. An. I. 1817, 351. 
Hab. Temperate North America, south to Brazil ; "West Indies. Accidental in Europe. 
Sp. Char. Largest of American Scolopacidie, except genera Numenius and Limosa. Primaries 
black, with nearly the basal half white, producing a very conspicuous patch on the spread wing. 
Summer adult: Above, light brownish gray, streaked on head and neck, and spotted and barred 
on the back, etc., with blackish ; beneath, white, tinged with ashy on foreneck and with buff along 
sides, the former, with jugulum, spotted with dusky, and the latter barred with the same ; upper 
tail-coverts white ; tail ashy, more or less distinctly mottled transversely with a deeper shade of 
the same ; wing-coverts plain ash-gray ; axillars and lining of wing plain sooty black. Winter 
plumage ; Above, plain ash-gray ; beneath, immaculate dull white, the foreneck shaded with 
grayish. Young : Above, brownish gray, the feathers margined with pale ochraceous ; sides much 
tinged with the same, and finely mottled transversely with grayish. Bill black ; legs and feet 
