116 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IX ALASKA. 



Tbey frequeut open grassy parts of tlie couutry and are quick to protest agaiust au iuvasiou 

 of ilieir territory. As a persou approaches, one after the otber of tbe birds arises and comes 

 circling about, uttering a loud ku-icew with sncb energy as to make the ears fairly ring. If their 

 nests are near, or they have young, they come closer and closer, some of the boldest s\Yooping 

 close by one's head and redoubling the din. This same note is beard upon all sides while the 

 birds conduct their courtships, and it serves also to express their anger and alarm. At the 

 mating season the males have a rolling whistle also like that of the ordinary field plover, but 

 shorter. When the birds fly at this time tboy hold the wings decurved and stiffened and make a 

 few rapid strokes, then glide for a short distance. On the ground it walks gracefully, its head well 

 raised, and frequently pauses to raise its wings high over the back and then deliberately folds 

 them. They may be decoyed when flying in flocks if their whistling note be imitated. If wounded 

 and taken in band tbey utter a loud harsh scream. 



These Godwits are among the first of the waders to leave Alaska in fiill. The young are flying 

 by the middle of July and before the end of August not one of these birds, young or old, is to be 

 found. In the breeding season all the birds of the neighborhood will unite to escort <a dog through 

 their territory with the most resounding cries. 



There is a wide range of individual variation among many speciesof wadei'S, and this is nowhere 

 better exemplified than in the present species, as will be shown in the following notes and descrip- 

 tions : A male in perfect breeding plumage obtained at Unalaska June 3, 1877, has the crown 

 striated by broad sooty black shaft-lines and dull yellowish edgings of each feather ; the entire 

 bacK' of neck dull bufl'y or yellowish brown, marked longitudinally by fine blackish shaft-lines 

 which become vei-y much broader near the back and on the dorsal area; including the scapulars 

 and most of tertials the feathers are dark blackish brown, each bordered by a varying amount of 

 dull gray, brown or buffy, in the form of irregular marginal spots and uneven borders. Feathers 

 on upper rump pale ashy brown, faintly white-edged, changing on the upper-tail coverts, which 

 contain irregular central areas of white inclosed in brown and these finally become, like the tail, 

 ashy brown, shaded with buff and barred with several irregular and frequently imperfect bars 

 of white or pale buffy white. The tail markings consist of six distinct bars of light. Entire 

 under surface rich buffj' red, broken only by a few irregular dark bars on feathers of the sides and 

 under tail-coverts. Secondaries and wing-coverts light ashy brown edged with grayish white. 

 Upper surface of primaries dark blackish brown ; under surface of same pale ashy, the inner webs 

 becoming whitish, broken by irregular clouding and maculations. In old male birds the feathers 

 on the breast are irregularly marked by fine black shaft-lines. 



The female in perfect breeding dress is like the male, except that the bufif of the lower surface 

 averages paler and is always mixed with white, giving au immature appearance. This character is 

 frequently present in the male as well, but in full-plumaged males it is absent ; I have yet to see a 

 female with the buff unbroken. 



Two females taken at Saint Michaels on June 16 are in winter plumage without a trace 

 of the usual summer coloration, and in several other spring females parts of the winter dress 

 remain. 



Both sexes begin to assume the fall dress in July, but tbey leave for the south before it 

 api)roaches completion. 



A young female taken August 25 at Saint Michaels presents the following characters : Crown 

 striated with dull black shaft-lines and dull ashy-brown edgings. Back of neck marked in the 

 same pattern, with the dark centers very pale and rendered obscure by the broad ashy-brown 

 borders. Entire dorsum, scapulars, tertials, and wing-coverts with dark brownish centers, 

 approaching black, except on the wing-coverts. Each feather is edged with pale grayish or dull 

 fawn brown, this edging encroaching on the dark centers of the tertials and some of the adjoining 

 feathers in a serrated pattern. Elsewhere the edgings are uniform. Secondaries and secondary- 

 coverts ashy, the latter edged with pale fulvous, the former with white. Primaries as in adult. 

 Breast and neck dark smoky fawn color, very light on the chin and sides of the head, the latter 

 slightly maculated. Entire abdomen and sides light reddish fawn color. Rump and tail as in 

 adult. Length of wing, 8 : tail, 3; tarsus, 2.G ; culmen, 2.31 inches. 



