290 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In rapid flight over the lowland, now alighting for a moment, then skimming 

 away again in a close body. Their movements and habits at this season are 

 similar to those of other godwits. By the last of May the flocks are broken 

 up, and the birds are distributed in small parties over theis breeding ground. 



Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes : 



For a large shore bird the dinful Pacific godwit is of common occurrence on 

 the vast mossy upland tundra about Hooper Bay and is even more numerous 

 in similar areas in the Igiak Bay region, including the lower slopes of the 

 mountain sides. The vociferous guardian parents, however, make themselves 

 so conspicuous by their clamorous agitation that they seem more plentiful than 

 they are in reality. The first bird to arrive from afar, a beautiful ruddy speci- 

 men, was captured May 15, and by May 20 occasional bands of 20 or more 

 birds were feeding along the overflow river margins. These flocks remained for 

 some days and were apparently transients, for they passed elsewhere. One 

 flock of 21 highly colored birds stayed with us until June. In the meanwhile 

 the happy mated pairs had already taken charge of their respective upland 

 domains, for on May 25 a nest with two eggs was found, which on May 28 held 

 four eggs. 



Courtship. — Doctor Nelson (1887) gives a brief account of this, as 

 follows : 



Their courtship begins by the 18th or 20th of May and is carried on in such 

 a loud-voiced manner that every creature in the neighborhood knows all about 

 it. The males continually utter a loud ringing ku-wew, ku-wcxv, ku-wew, 

 which is repeated with great emphasis upon the last syllable, and the note may 

 be heard for several hundred yards. 



Nesting. — We are indebted to Mr. Brandt for practically all we 

 know about the nesting habits of this rare species. I quote from his 

 notes, as follows: 



The Pacific godwit chooses an elevated dry site for its domicile, preferring 

 the ridges on the rolling tundra and nests even occur on the lower mountain 

 slopes. The nest is well concealed, for it is usually placed between clumps 

 of bunch grass and is thus well screened from view by the standing vegeta- 

 tion. The structure is usually a simple depression in the moss and lichens 

 and lined haphazardly with fragments of the surrounding reindeer moss, but 

 occasionally a real nest is carefully fashioned with considerable grass woven 

 in a circular manner and is thus rather substantially constructed. In one 

 instance the bird added to the nesting material while the eggs were being 

 laid. The range of measurements of 12 nests is: Inside diameter, 6 to 7 

 inches ; inside depth, 3 to 4 inches ; and total depth, 3 to 5 inches. I observed 

 the female Pacific godwit alone to incubate, but the male was always near by. 

 She is perhaps the closest brooder of any incubating shoi-e bird we encountered, 

 so much so that she often literally had to be almost stepped on before she 

 arose. The alert male lookout meets the intruder at a considerable distance 

 from the nest and with a loud tongue acts as an escort to the discomfort of the 

 interloper. Thus but little clue can be had from the bird's actions as to the 

 whereabouts of the brooding female, and in consequence, in spite of the number 

 of nests in the region, relatively few are found, and those mostly by chance 

 The peculiar contents of one nest were originally five eggs of the willow 

 ptarmigan, on top of which four eggs of the Pacific godwit had been laid. 

 Evidently the latter bird had driven the ptarmigan away from its nest, as 



