SCOLOPACID.E: GOD WITS. 



825 



(M- Godwits.) 



L,I310'SA. (Lat. limosa, muddy, miry; limus, mud, slime.) Godwits. Bill much longer 

 than head, longer than tarsus, curved a little upward. Culmen flattened toward end, but not 

 furrowed ; end of bill not notably enlarged or punctulated. Lateral groove of both mandibles 

 reaching nearly to end of bill ; symphyseal groove less extended. Gape of mouth moderate, 

 scarcely cleft beyond base of culmen, as in Snipes and Sandpipers, not as usual among Tattlers ; 

 no frontal antise. Wing long and pointed ; tail short and square. Tibia denuded below for a 

 moderate space. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw, scutellate before and behind, reticu- 

 late on sides. Toes short and stout, much flattened underneath, and widely margined ; outer 

 and middle semipalmate, inner and middle with a slight web. Size large; general aspect 

 Curlew-like, but bill straight or slightly recurved, not decurved. In character of bill interme- 

 diate between hard-billed Tattlers on the one hand, and soft-billed Sandpipers and Snipes on 

 the other; especially near 3Iacrorhumphus, to which Limosa is nearly related in some other 

 respects, as seasonal changes of plumage of most species. Sexes similar in plumage ; 9 larger 

 than (J, who does duty as an incubator. Two North American species, and two others in 

 Alaska and Greenland, from Asia and Europe respectively. 



Analysis of Species. 



Bar-tailed Godwits. 



Rump, tail, and its upper coverts barred throughout with blackish and rufous. Lining of wings chestnut. No 

 extensive barruig on under parts No great seasonal changes of plumage. Feathers not extending on side of 

 under mandible far beyond those on upper Jedon 



Rump blackish, tail and its upper coverts barred with white and bUck. Lining of wings and axillars white, with 



dusky marks '■ l>("ieri 



Black-tailed Godwits. 



Rump blackish, upper tail-coverts mostly white, tail black with white base and tip. Under parts in summer in- 

 tense ferruginous, barred throughout. Lining of wings mostly blackish. Feathers extending on side of lower 

 mandible to a point beyond those on upper hxmastica 



Rump, tail, and its coverts substantially the same as in L. hcemaslica. Lining of wings and axillars mostly white. 

 White spaces on primaries and secondaries limosa 



L. fed'oa. (Derivation and meaning of fedoa unknown, formerly conjectured to be a perversion 

 of Lat. fceda, ugly, ungainly, unseemly, and so given in 2d-4th editions of the Key, probably in 

 error. The word goes back to Turner, 1544, p. 38, " Anglorum goduuittam, sive/ef/o«/«," and 

 has been variously applied to Godwits and some other 

 birds before and since Linnjeus named this species 

 Scolopax fedoa in 1758. Newton (Diet., p. 248) re- 

 gards it as a Latinized form of some English name of _„^mi^^ fn»fAiimmm j <?v 

 the European God wit, " now lost apparently beyond ^^^Hi^S^^S^i^ / ^^ 

 recovery." Fig. 570.) Great Marbled Godavit. ^ ^Si^ 8^!8jgi%i}^.^ 

 American Bar-tailed Godwit. Common Marlin. 

 Red Marlin. Brown Marlin. Spike-billed 

 Curlew. Spike-bill. Badger-bird. Feathers 

 not extending on side of lower mandible to a point far «^T-i*^,._ 

 bi-yonil those on upper. Kuuip, tail, and its coverts "^_, ^ ^""^jfr^ 

 liarrcd throughout witli blackish and the body-color. ^^^ 

 I.,ining of wings chestnut; axillars the same, more or — 

 less barred with lilack. General color rufous or light 

 dull cinnamon-red, nearly uniform on under parts, richer F'°- r.Tn. - Godwit. greatly reduced. (From 



, "i ,. , -11 Tenney, after Audubon.) 



.■111(1 more chestnut on liiunir of wmgs and axillars; 



usually marked with dusky on juiruhnii. bnast, and sides; chin white; on all upper parts 

 variegated with the lirowiiish-black central field of each feather; Idarkisli predominating. 



