482 BIRDS—SCOLOPACID A. 
Sub-genus Symphemia. Toes with two subequal webs; legs bluish or dark. 
ToTANUS SEMIPALMATUS (Gm.) Temm. 
Semipalmated Tattler; Willet, 
Totanus semipalmatus, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 165; Am. Journ Sci. and 
Arts, xl, 1841, 24.—WHkEaTON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 
572; Reprint, 12.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 15; Revised List, Journ. Cin. 
Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 183; Reprint, 17; Field Notes, ib., ii, 1880, 127. 
Symphemia semipalmata, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 1861, 369; Reprint, 11. 
Scolopax semipalmata, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 659. 
Totanus semipalmatus, TEMMINCK, Man. Orn., ii, 637. 
Symphemia semipalmata, HARTLAND, R. Z., 1845, 342. 
Bill straight, comparatively stout, grooved little if any more than half its length. 
In summer, gray above, with numerous black marks, white below, the jugalum streaked, 
the breast, sides and crissum barred or with arrow shaped marks of dusky (in winter, 
and in young birds, all these dark marks few or wanting, except on jugulam); upper 
tail-coverts, most of the secondaries, and basal half of primari»s, white; ends of prim- 
aries, their coverts, lining of wings, and axillars, black; bill blueish or dark. Toes 
with two conspicuous basal webs. Length, 12-16; wing, 7-8; tail, 24-3; bill or tarsus, 
2-2; tibia bare, 1 or more, middle toe and claw, 14-2. 
Habitat, Temperate North America, north to 56°, but chiefly United States. Breeds 
throughout its United States range. R-sident in the Southern States. Common in the 
interior but more so along the coast. West indies. Centra! America. Accidental in 
Europe. 
Not common spring and fall migrant, probably breeds in northern 
Ohio. Dr. Kirtland mentions their occurrence on the lake shore in 1838, 
and, as quoted on page 220, their residence during summer. Mr. Lang- 
don gives it as a rare spring and fall migrant. I have never seen it in 
this vicinity. 
Dr. Coues gives the following description of their nesting and habits: 
‘‘The nest is placed near the water of some secluded pool, or in the midst of a marsh, 
whether fresh or salt, in a tussock of grass or rushes. It is a rude structure, of the sim- 
plest materials, raised a little way from the ground, and with a shallow indentation. 
The eggs are very variable in all respects. As to sizo and shape, the following measure- 
ments show the differences: 2.90 by 2.45; 1.95 by 1.50; 2.00 by 1.50; 2.05 by 1.55; 2.12 
by 1.50; averaging about 2.00 by 1.50. They are less pointedly pyriform than the eggs 
of the smaller Tattlers and Sandpipers. The ground is sometimes brownish-olive, or 
drab, or clay-color; sometimes, again, quite buify-brown; in a few cases greenish or 
grayish-white. The spotting is bold and distinct, but little massed even at the greater 
end, where, though the spots are largest and most numerous, they generally remain dis- 
tinct. The spots are mostly clean-edged and sharp, of moderate size, but sometimes 
qnite fine and scratchy. They are of various umber-brown shades, and accompanied 
with the usual obsolete shell- markings. 
Under ordinary circumstances Willets are notoriously restless, wary, and noisy birds ; 
but their nature is changed, or, at any rate, held in abeyance, during and for a short 
