WADING BIRDS. 
148 
end. According to Wilson, the eggs are very palatable as food. 
The young, covered with a gray-colored down, run off as soon 
as freed from the shell, and are led about by the mother in 
quest of their proper food, while the vociferous male keeps 
careful watch for their safety. On entering these breeding- 
places the spectator is beset by the Willets flying wildly around 
and skimming over his head with the clamorous cry oipill-will- 
willet, accompanied at times, when much excited and alarmed 
by an approach to the nest, with a loud clicking note, in the 
manner of the Avocet. Exhausted with their vigilant and de- 
fensive exertions, at times they utter a sad and plaintive note 
and occasionally alighting, slowly close their long, silvery, and 
party-colored wings, as if acting a part to solicit compassion. 
Among their most common and piratical enemies are the 
Crows, who roam over the marshes in quest of eggs, and as 
soon as they appear are attacked by the Willets in united num- 
bers, who with loud vociferations pursue them off the ground. 
During the term of incubation the female, fatigued with her 
task, and occasionally leaving her eggs to the influence of the 
ardent sun, resorts to the shore, and deeply wading, washes and 
dresses her plumage, frequently emerging, and performing her 
ablutions with an air of peculiar satisfaction. Indeed, the 
Willets generally wade more than most of their tribe ; and 
when disabled from flying by a wound, they take to the water 
without hesitation, and swim with apparent ease. The peculiar 
note which characterizes and gives name to this remarkable 
species of Chevalier is only uttered by the adults ; and the 
call of the young when associated by themselves appears to 
be a kind of shrill and plaintive whistle almost like that of the 
Curlew. The AVillet subsists chiefly on small shell-fish, aquatic 
insects, their larvse and mollusca, in quest of which it constantly 
resorts to the muddy shores and estuaries at low water. In 
the fall, when the flocks of young birds associate, which may 
be easily known by the grayness of their plumage, they are 
selected by the gunners in preference to the older and darker 
birds, being tender, fat, and fine-flavored game. In the 
months of October and November they gradually pass on to 
