HUDSONIAX GODWIT. 177 



tire, yelping note, like the barking of a puppy, or small 

 whining dog. The Red Godwit, is indeed called the Barker 

 by Buffon, from the similarity and frequence of this habit. 

 The English name of Yarwhelp, for the melanura, has also 

 reference probably to the same note ; and the clandestine pas- 

 sage, high in the air, and in the dead of night, of the myste- 

 rious ' Seven ^VJdstlers,^ sometimes heard in my native vil- 

 lage,* in Yorkshire, and to which, harmless superstition oc- 

 casionally added some supernatural presage, was, in all proba- 

 bility, nothing more than a wandering visit of this singular 

 company of Yelpers, or Curlews, returning to their native 

 marshes and fens in the interior, where formerly they were 

 known to breed. 



The L. melanura nests in the high grass of the meadows, 

 near water, and lays 4 eggs of a dark olive, marked with 

 large pale brown spots. 



Length of the male Hudsonian Godwit 15 to IG inches ; of the 

 female 18 to 19. Bill measured from above, in the male, 3 inches or 

 less ; in the female 3 inches 7 lines, rather more curved upwards 

 than that of L. fedoi ; dark umber above and at the point ; else- 

 where purplish flesh color. Legs and feet black. Tarsus of the 

 male about 2 inches ; of the female 2 inches 4^ lines. — Summer 

 dress, with the top of the head dusky-brown, with pale edgings. 

 Line over the eye Avhitish and spotted. Sides of the head and the 

 neck aboA-e and below, wood-brown, with dark streaks. Scapulars, 

 interscapulars, and tertiaries, dark liver-brown, tinged with green, 

 the tips and marginal spots dilute wood-brown, or pale rufous. Mid- 

 dle and hind part of the back dark clove-brown, with pale edgings. 

 Broad transverse band on the rump, the base and tip of the tail, white ; 

 middle of the tail and ends of its longer coverts black ; central pair 

 of tail feathers tipped with pale olive-brown. Primary coverts and 

 quills blackish-brown ; the shafts white to near their tips. Under 

 plumage posterior to the neck, deep chestnut-brown ; the breast 

 marked with roundish black spots, the belly with undulating bars, 

 wliich become much broader and more numerous posteriorly and 



* Long Preston. 



