190 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



late migrants arc quite ruddy on the chest, while others show liardly a trace of rusty above 

 or below. Length 7 to 8.75 inches; wing 4.70 to 5; cuhnen .95 to 1; tarsus .90 to L05. 



103. Marbled Godwit. Limosa fedoa (Linn.). (249) 



Synonyms: Great Marbled Godwit, Great Godwit, Red Curlew, Brant Bird, Red 

 Marlin, Brown Marlin, Spike-bill. — Scolopax fedoa, Linn., 1758. — Scolopax marmorata, 

 Lath., 1790.— Limosa fedoa, Ord, Aud., Nutt., and most recent authors. 



A snipe-like bird of large size (wing about nine inches), known from its 

 relatives by the long bill (3 J inches or over) which has a distinct upward 

 curve all the way from base to tip. and by the cinnamon color of the lining 

 of the wings. 



Distribution. — North America; breeding in the interior (from Iowa and 

 Nebraska, northward to Manitoba and the Saskatchewan), migrating in 

 winter to Guatemala, Yucatan, and Cuba. 



This is a rare species in Michigan at the present time, but seems to have 

 been less so formerly. Covert records the capture of a female on Clam Lake, 

 Cadillac, May 3, 1881 (Marginal notes in Coues Key), and Hazelwood 

 states that it is "less common in September on the Michigan shore of Lake 

 Huron near Port Huron" (MS. List, 1904). L. Whitney Watkins has a 

 specimen in his collection, marked "Monroe Flats, 1881," which was 

 obtained from a taxidermist at Manchester, Michigan many years ago. 

 A mounted specimen in the Kent Scientific Museum (No. 20063) is marked 

 "D. D. Hughes, Grand Rapids," but bears no date. It seems to be in 

 autumnal pfumage. There is also a nicely mounted adult in the Barron 

 collection at Niles, but without data. 



The Marbled Godwit is said to be decidedly rare in Wisconsin, Illinois, 

 and Ohio at present. It was formerly an abundant bird of the prairie 

 regions west of the Mississippi, but of late years seems to be found in 

 numbers only about the alkali lakes and large bodies of shallow water in 

 the far west. According to Kumlien and Hollister (Birds of Wisconsin, 

 1903, 48) "Mr. H. Nehrling gives it as breeding in the Northern Peninsula 

 of Michigan," but I am not able to verify this statement. 



It is said to nest most commonly in Manitoba and the Saskatchewan 

 region, but it also nests in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and other 

 western states. The nest is placed on the ground, and the eggs are pale 

 olive to light grayish buff, rather sparsely spotted with dark brown and 

 dull purplish gray, and average 2.27 by 1.60 inches. 



Professor Aughey found it feeding freely on locusts in Nebraska in 1867 

 and 1874, but says that it never feeds exclusively on them; he found from 

 30 to 45 other insects in each of the stomachs examined (1st Rep. U. S. 

 Entom. Com. Appendix 2, p. 53). 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Tail and its upper coverts cinnamon or buff, barred with black or brown; axillars and 

 under wing-coverts also cinnamon. Chin white; rest of underparts buffy white to pale 

 cinnamon, streaked on the throat, and more or less thickly barred on breast and sides 

 with brown or brownish black; entire top of head and back and sides of neck brown, streaked 

 with ashy or buffy white; rest of upper parts brown, the feathers variously spotted, barred, 

 edged or tipped with buffy white or cinnamon; wings mainly brownish black, the outer 

 primaries bufi'y on the inner webs and with white or buffy shafts; basal half of bill flesh - 

 colored, the remainder brown or black; legs and feet dark slate. Adults are more heavily 

 barred below than the yomig, which often are entirely without dark markings on breast, 

 sides and belly. Apparently there is little or no difference in the sexes. Length 16.50 

 to 20.50 inches; wing 8.50 to 9; culmen 3.50 to 5; tarsus 2.50 to 3. 



