Plate CCLXIX. Male.
Bill nearly one-half longer than the head, dusky green; legs long dull
greyish-green; all the lower parts, and the back, excepting a small
portion anteriorly, pure white; the fore part of head and cheeks also
white; loral band with small oblong spots of greyish-brown, sides of
lower part of fore neck and a portion of the breast faintly undulated
with grey; upper part of head, hind part and sides of neck,
greyish-white, lineated with greyish-brown; scapulars and inner
secondaries greyish-brown, edged with greyish-white, and lined or
mottled with dark brown towards the margins; smaller wing-coverts
plain brown, the larger darker near the edge, and margined with
whitish, as are the outer secondaries; primary quills and coverts dark
brown, the shaft of the outer white; tail greyish-white, undulated
with light brown, the outer four feathers on each side with only a
series of spots on the outer edge, which on the outermost feathers is
almost obliterated.
_Male_, 11, wing, 7.
Only three procured on Sand Key, Florida.
Scolopax Glottis, Linn. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 245.
Greenshank, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 68.
Greenshank, Totanus Glottis, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 483.
348. 5. Totanus semipalmatus, Lath. Semipalmated Tatler.--Willet.
Stone Curlew.
Plate CCLXXIV. Fig. 1. Male in spring. Fig. 2. Female in
winter.
Bill nearly a half longer than the head, rather stout, light blue,
dusky toward the end; feet long, rather stout, light blue, the basal
membranes large. In summer, the head and neck brownish-grey, streaked
with blackish-brown; throat and a band from the bill over the eye
white; fore part of back and scapulars brownish-grey, variegated with
central marks of blackish-brown; third part of back brownish-grey with
a gloss of olive; wing-coverts grey, with central lines of
brownish-black; primary coverts and primary quills brownish-black, the
latter white in their basal half; outer secondaries white, inner like
the scapulars; lower wing-coverts and axillar feathers blackish-brown;
breast and sides white, the latter transversely undulated with
brownish-black; abdomen, and lower and upper tail-coverts white, with
a few dusky bars; four middle tail-feathers barred with brownish-black
and brownish-grey, the rest pale grey, fading to white on the outer,
and all more or less minutely undulated with pale brownish-grey.
_Male_, 15-1/2, 27-3/4. _Female_, 15-1/2, 31.
Breeds abundantly in Texas, and along the Atlantic shores to New York,
sparingly as far as Massachusetts. Constant resident in the Southern
States. Rare in the interior.
Semipalmated Snipe, Scolopax semipalmata, Wils. Amer. Orn. v.
vii. p. 27.
Totanus semipalmatus, Semipalmated Tatler, Swains. & Rich. F.
Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 388.
Semipalmated Snipe or Willet, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 144.
Semipalmated Snipe or Willet, Totanus semipalmatus, Aud. Orn.
Biog. v. iii. p. 510; v. v. p. 585.
GENUS V. LIMOSA, Briss. GODWIT.
Bill very long, slender, subcylindrical, tapering to an obtuse point,
slightly recurved; upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly curved
upwards, the ridge convex, the sides with a narrow groove extending
almost to the point, the edges rather obtuse, the tip very slightly
enlarged; lower mandible with the angle very long and extremely
narrow, the sides with a narrow groove extending almost to the end,
the edges blunt, the tip obtuse. Nostrils basal, linear, nearer the
edge. Head small, oblong; neck rather long, slender; body slender.
Feet long and slender; tibia bare for about a third, anteriorly
scutellate; tarsus long, slender, scutellate before and behind; toes
small, slender, scutellate above; anterior connected by webs at the
base, first very small. Claws small, compressed, slightly arched,
obtuse. Plumage soft and blended. Wings rather long, narrow, very
acute; primaries tapering, the first longest, the inner secondaries
elongated. Tail short, even, of twelve narrow rounded feathers.