Home › R › Range (Eastern North America breeding) (V)

Range (Eastern North America breeding) (V)

Eastern North America, breeding from Florida to southern New Jersey, and locally and rarely to Maine.

Washington, rare T. V., Aug. Long Island, T. V., rare in May; uncommon in Aug. and Sept. Sing Sing, A. V. Eygs, three to four, clay-color or buffy, thickly spotted with chocolate, chiefly at the larger end, 2-10 × 1.55.

Willets frequent both fresh- and salt-water marshes, shores, and beaches. If you visit their haunts during the nesting season, on fluttering wings they will hover above your head or fly low over the marsh to draw you away from their home, uttering, with scarce a moment's cessation, their loudly whistled call of pilly-will-willet, pillywill-willet. All day long, and even at night, I have heard them repeat these notes until, wearied by their persistence, one is thankful to leave them in undisturbed possession of the ground. 258a. S. s. inornata Brewst. WESTERN WILLET. - Slightly larger than the preceding, and, in summer plumage, the upper parts are paler and less heavily marked with black; the breast is less heavily streaked and more suffused with buffy, and the middle tail-feathers are without black bars. In winter plumage the two forms can be distinguished only by the slight and inconstant character of size. W., 8.50; Tar., 2.50; B., 2:40. Range.-Western United States, breeding from Texas to Manitoba; winters on the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas. The RUFF (260. Pavoncella pugnax) is an Old-World species which occasionally wanders to eastern North America. It has been taken in Maine, Massachusetts, Ontario, Ohio, Long Island, and New Jersey. The adult male may be known by its enlarged ruff, which varies in color from black, chestnut, and rufous to buffy and whitish. The female is without a ruff, and is otherwise very different from the male. The upper parts are grayish brown, the back, scapulars, and tertials are broadly barred with black, the outer tail-feathers are ashy, the inner ones are barred with buffy and black, the breast is ashy, with concealed black bars, the belly is white. In winter the upper parts are light grayish brown with few or no bars. ♂ L., 12-50; W., 7.50; Tar., 1.90; B., 1.50.

L., 10.00; W., 6.00; Tar., 1·40; B., 1.15. 261. Bartramia longicauda (Bechst.). BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER; UPLAND PLOVER; FIELD PLOVER. Ad.-Head and neck streaked with black and ochraceous-buff; back and wing-coverts ochraceous-buff, barred with black; tertials olive, barred with black and margined with ochraceous-buff; primaries fuscous, the outer one barred with white; inner tail-feathers brownish gray, outer ones varying from ochraceous-buff to white, all more or less SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. barred with black; breast and sides washed with buffy and streaked or barred with black; belly white or whitish. Im.-Similar, but the ochraceous-buff is deeper. L., 11.50; W., 6.50; Tar., 1.90; B., 1.15.