PACIFIC GODWIT 293 



pletely; the others are usually plain gray, but sometimes the outer 

 pair or two are partially barred. 



Food. — Very little has been published on this subject. William 

 Palmer (1899) says: 



In the ponds they feed by keeping their bills in the water and move inva- 

 riably all in the same direction, heads to the wind. With care I could 

 approach within a few feet. Much the greater part of the stomach contents 

 of these birds consisted of hundreds of minute threadlike aquatic larvae of a 

 midge (Chironomis). Pieces of mollusks' shell had been swallowed by several 

 of the birds. Flies, closely related to our common house fly, and tiger beetles 

 were detected in small quantities. Of the six godwits, five had been killed 

 on St. Paul Island, and had fed for the most part upon midges, which were 

 probably abundant in a fresh-water pond on the island. The sixth bird was 

 taken on Walrus Island. It had caught over 500 specimens of a species of 

 beetle (Acgialites deiilis), the sole representative of a unique family of beetles, 

 described some time ago and subsequently lost sight of until recently discovered 

 again. 



The above report on stomach contents was made by Dr. S. D. Judd 

 and has been amended by Preble and McAtee (1923), who report that 

 the items of food, ranked by bulk, are flies, 76.6 per cent ; beetles, 17 ; 

 mollusks, 3.6; marine worms, 1.3; and vegetable matter, 1 per cent. 

 The jaws of marine worms (Nereidae) were mistaken for jaws of 

 tiger beetles. 



Behavior. — Doctor Nelson (1887) writes: 



They frequent open grassy parts of the country and are quick to protest 

 against an invasion of their territory. As a person approaches, one after the 

 other of the birds arises and comes circling about, uttering a loud hu-w&w with 

 such energy as to make the ears fairly ring. If their nests are near, or they 

 have young, they come closer and closer, some of the boldest swooping close 

 by one's head and redoubling the din. This same note is heard upon all sides 

 while the birds conduct their courtships, and it serves also to express their 

 anger and alarm. At the mating season the males have a rolling whistle also 

 like that of the ordinary field plover, but shorter. When the birds fly at this 

 time they hold the wings decurved and stiffened and make a few rapid strokes, 

 then glide for a short distance. On the ground it walks gracefully, its head 

 well raised, and frequently pauses to raise its wings high over the back and 

 then deliberately folds them. They may be decoyed when flying in flocks if 

 their whistling note be imitated. If wounded and taken in hand, they utter a 

 loud, harsh scream. 



Mr. Brandt says in his notes : 



The Pacific godwit has wonderful powers of flight, and, as it wheels about 

 protesting against an intrusion, the slightest beat of its long, decurved wings 

 seems, without perceptible effort, to drive it forward like an arrow from the 

 bow. That its power of flight is extraordinary is shown by the fact that it 

 spends the winter time of the north in southern Australia and New Zealand. 

 It migrates along the eastern coast of Asia and is one of the interesting 

 Old World birds that find their northeastern limit on the Alaskan shores 

 of Bering Sea. During the love-making period, shortly after this godwit's 

 54267—27 20 



