MARBLED GODWIT 287 



see them in anything like the numbers mentioned by Audubon (1840) 

 and Maynard (1896). The former says: 



This fine bird is found during winter on all the large muddy flats of the coast 

 of Florida that are intermixed with beds of racoon oysters. As the tide rises 

 it approaches the shores, and betakes itself to the wet savannahs. At this 

 season it is generally seen in flocks of five or six, searching for food in company 

 with the telltale, the yellow shanks, the long-billed curlew, and the white ibis. 



The latter writes : 



The marbled godwits are very common in the South in winter, but they are 

 particularly abundant in Florida. Back of Amelia Island, just south of St. 

 Marys River, thus lying just on the extreme northern confines of the State, are 

 extensive flats on which are pools that become partly dry during winter. These 

 were the familiar resorts of the godwits, and flocks of hundreds would gather 

 around them. They were quite wild while here, rising with deafening clamor 

 when approached, but they had become so attached to the locality that they 

 would merely circle about and alight on the borders of some neighboring pool. 

 From this point, southward along the eastern coast as far as Merritts Island 

 they were very numerous but were not common at Miami, and I did not see them 

 on the Keys. On the west coast, however, they occurred in large numbers, 

 especially on the muddy flats about Cedar Keys. On Indian River I found the 

 godwits very unsuspicious, in so much so that I have frequently killed them 

 with dust shot. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — North and Central America. The range of the marbled 

 godwit is now greatly restricted, the breeding areas being princi- 

 pally in North Dakota and central Saskatchewan and it is now 

 extremely rare in winter anywhere on the Atlantic coast. 



Breeding range. — North to Alberta (probably Edmonton) ; Sas- 

 katchewan (Osier and Crescent Lake) ; Manitoba (Winnipeg) : and 

 Wisconsin (Iron County). East to Wisconsin (Iron County, 

 Sloughton, and Lake Koshkonong) ; and Iowa (Newton). South to 

 Iowa (Newton and probably Sioux City) ; South Dakota (Miner 

 County and probably Huron); and Montana (Billings). West to 

 Montana (Billings and Strater) ; and Alberta (Medicine Hat and 

 probably Edmonton). It also has been detected in summer at 

 Okanagan, British Columbia, Pelican Narrows, Saskatchewan, Moose 

 Lake, Manitoba, and York Factory, Manitoba. 



Winter range. — North to Lower California (Magdalena Bay and 

 La Paz) ; Sinaloa (Mazatlan) ; Oaxaca (Tehuantepec) ; western 

 Yucatan; probably Texas (Corpus Christi) ; probably Louisiana; 

 and Georgia ( Savannah). East to Georgia (Savannah and 

 Darien) ; Florida (Amelia Island, Tarpon Springs, Fort Myers, and 

 Miami) ; eastern Yucatan (Cozumel Island) ; and British Honduras 

 (Belize). South to British Honduras (Belize); and Guatemala 

 (Chiapam). West to Guatemala (Chiapam) ; probably Colima 

 (Manzanillo) ; and Lower California (Magdalena Bay). Marbled 



