242 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



ment I followed, and with my binoculars had a 

 splendid view of them as they strode about on 

 their stilt-like legs and caught insects. 



Not until I visited Saskatchewan did I locate 

 their breeding-grounds. There I found them 

 nesting in scattered pairs, very commonly over 

 the dry prairies. Like the large Curlew, they are 

 partial to an alkaline country. Though they 

 are always in the general vicinity of some slough, 

 their actual nesting is bade on the dry prairie. 



1 . il;i I. . , i .1 ' 'lit nig Tub. Co. 



Photo by H. K. J-b 



GREAT MARBLED GODWIT 

 On Saskatchewan prairie 



Amid the rather short dry prairie grass a slight 

 hollow is selected, a frail nest of grass con- 

 structed, and four large handsome eggs are de- 

 posited the latter part of May or early in June. 

 The nest is not especially concealed, except by 

 the vastness of the surroundings and the blend- 

 ing coloration of the brooding bird, who sits 



quite close, so that the nest is found largely by 

 accident. One day while driving our team and 

 outfit over the trackless prairie, we were startled 

 by an almost human scream, as a large brown 

 bird fluttered from under the feet of the horses. 

 Lucky it was that the nest was not trampled, 

 so I was able to take photographs of it. My com- 

 panion on the trip, A. C. Bent, afterwards found 

 another nest on which the female sat so per- 

 sistently that actually he lifted her from it by 

 hand without having her make the slightest ef- 

 fort to escape. 



When the young are hatched, the birds be- 

 come almost as violent and noisy in their dem- 

 onstrations as the W'illet. They follow one 

 around on the prairie, flying about, alighting 

 nearby, and trotting off, ever shrieking that inces- 

 sant din of (jod-z^'it, god-zvit, from which I as- 

 sume their name may have been derived. On one 

 occasion a Godwit followed me nearly all day 

 and kept up this screaming, until in the after- 

 noon it got so hoarse that its voice would break 

 into a sort of gasp or croak, as though it had a 

 bad cold. Hence I nicknamed this absurd crea- 

 ture my ■' Catarrh-bird." LTnder these circum- 

 stances they were so tame that I was able to take 

 with a reflecting camera all the photographs of 

 them that I needed. 



I'ormerly this species was quite abundant along 

 the Atlantic coast on its migrations, whereas 

 now it is only an accidental straggler. I have 

 seen a few in winter in Louisiana, but most of 

 them migrate beyond our borders to warmer 

 climes. It is a handsome, interesting species 

 which, like nearly all the larger shore birds, is 

 in danger of extermination unless the radical 

 measures already enacted are rigidly enforced. 



Herbert K. Job. 



The Marbled Godwit is of very real service to 

 farmers by reason of the fact that it feeds freely 

 upon various species of grasshoppers which are 

 verv injurious to crops. It should, therefore, 

 receive adequate protection, especially during its 

 breedim: season. 



Other Names.— Big Tell-tale 

 Tell-tale Godwit; Yellow-shins; Winter Yellow-legs; 

 Big Yellow-legs; Big Yellow-legged Plover: Greater 

 Yellow-shanks ; Cucu ; Big Cucu ; Long-legged Tattler ; 

 Stone-bird ; Stone Snipe ; Yelper. 



GREATER YELLOW-LEGS 

 Totanus melanoleucus {Gntcliii) 



A. O. U. \umber 254 See Color Plate 3(1 



Greater Tell-tale; General Description 



Length. 15 inches. Color 

 above, hlackish-bmwii : below, white with brown spots on 

 breast and neck. Bill longer than head, slender, and 

 either straight or with end half very slightly curved 

 upward; Irc/s and toes long and slender. 



