Marbled Godwit (Umosa fedoa) 



By Howard Jones 



Synonym. — Brown Marlin. 



Description. — Adult: General color pale cinnamon or ochraceous-buff ; the 

 head and neck all around streaked and spotted with brownish dusky ; the back, etc., 

 heavily and irregularly barred with the same — a typical feather from the scapulars 

 has a broad dusky center shaped like a dandelion leaf, the complementary spaces 

 being ochraceous-buff, or irregularly white ; the primary coverts, and outer webs 

 of three outer primaries brownish dusky; the breast (especially on sides), the 

 sides, flanks and lower tail-coverts, with fine wavy bars of dusky; the superciliary 

 line and throat immaculate ; the axillars and lining of wings darker — say pale 

 cinnamon-rufous; bill, slightly upturned, yellow at base, blackening toward tip; 

 V^ feet and legs blackish. Immature: Similar to adult, but immaculate on breast; 

 sides and flanks less distinctly and extensively barred. Length 16.50-21.00 (419.1- 

 533.4) ; wing 9.15 (232.4) ; tail 3.13 (79.5) ; bill 4.28 (108.7) ; tarsus 2.74 (69.6). 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size ; large size ; long, slightly upturned bill ; pale 

 cinnamon coloration ; "marbled" appearance of upper parts. 



'Nesting. — Nest, on the ground. Eggs, 3 or 4, light olive-brown, finely speckled 

 and spotted with dark brown and purplish gray. Av. size, 2.18 x 1.64 (55.4x41.7). 



General Range. — North America, breeding in the interior (from Iowa and 

 Nebi^ska northward to Manitoba and the Saskatchewan), Migrating in winter 

 to Guatemala, Yucatan, etc., and Cuba. 



This good wight has wit enough at least to avoid our coasts of late; and 

 Professor Jones in his recent catalog is able to add nothing to Dr. Wheaton's 

 records. The bird cannot be blamed exactly, since one of the last records was 

 of thirty-three, which were "shot in one day, near the mouth of the Little Miami, 

 some years ago by , Esq." 



According to Dr. Coues, the center of the bird's abundance in summer in- 

 cludes the northwestern prairie states and the region of the Saskatchewan. "It 

 breeds in Iowa," he says, "and in Minnesota and eastern Dakota, where I observed 

 it in June, and where the eggs have been procured. I found it on the plains 

 bordering the Red River, in company with Long-billed Curlews and great num- 

 bers of Bartramian Sandpipers, nesting like these species, on the prairie near the 

 river, and about the adjoining pools, but not necessarily by the water's edge. In 

 its habits at this season it most nearly resembles the Curlew, and the two species, 

 of much the same size and general appearance, might be readily mistaken at a 

 distance where the difference in the bill might not be perceived. On intrusion 

 near the nest, the birds mount in the air with loud piercing cries, hovering slowly 

 around with labored flight in evident distress, and approaching sometimes within 

 a few feet of the observer." 



940 



