298 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



with white, dusky, and brown; the feathers of the flanks are brown 

 with three or four black or dusky bars and broad white tips; on 

 the breast only the outer half of the feather is brown, the remainder 

 is white, with two or three dusky bars and a broad white tip. Care- 

 less sexing may have caused the oft-repeated error. 



Food.— Edward H. Forbush (1925) says that "the food of the 

 Hudsonian god wit includes worms, many insects (including horse- 

 flies and mosquitoes), mollusks and crustaceans, and various small 

 forms of marine life." 



Behavior. — He also says: 



While with us it seems to have a preference for sand} 7 shores and sand spits, 

 but it also frequents mud flats, beaches, and creeks in the salt marsh, and 

 sometimes goes to the uplands after insects. 



Dr. L. C. Sanford (1903), writing of the habits of the Hudsonian 

 godwit in the Magdalen Islands, says : 



On the islands where these birds congregate they frequent the large open 

 lagoons where the low tide leaves exposed miles of sand bars. Here they follow 

 the water's edge and wade in up to the full length of their long legs, feeding 

 on animalculae and small larvae, for which their bill is peculiarly adapted, 

 having the same flexible tip as that of the Wilson's snipe. With the rising 

 water, first the small sandpipers, then the larger birds are driven from the 

 flats ; last of all, the godwit. They start in flocks of from 10 to 20 and keep 

 well in the center of the lagoon, flying over the flooded flats, avoiding carefully 

 all land, even the farthest points and islands. 



The long black lines of birds undulating in their flight can readily be 

 distinguished from any other shore bird. They have a very dark appearance. 

 In a short half hour the last flocks have passed and there is no further 

 flight until the next tide. At high water they congregate on the upper beaches, 

 well out of reach of any disturber. For a long time it was impossible to 

 arrange a blind in the range of the flight, but finally by piling up heaps of 

 seaweed and staking them down far out in the shallow water, we managed to 

 kill a small number. They quickly learned the danger, however, and would keep 

 oju their course just out of reach. 



Dr. D. G. Elliot (1895) writes: 



Like the other godwit, its larger relative, it is a shy bird during migration 

 and keeps a watchful eye on an intruder in its domain, rising at a considerable 

 distance and uttering its shrill cry. It sometimes decoys readily, setting its 

 wings and sailing up to the wooden counterfeits, lured on by a close imitation 

 of its note, but soon discovers the deception and either alights only* for a 

 moment or else wheels about over the decoys, and hastily departs, provided it 

 escapes the rain of shot from the discharged gun of the concealed sportsman. 

 About Hudson's Bay it is met with in large flocks, resorting to the beach when 

 the tide is low, and feeding on the Crustacea it discovers there, retiring to the 

 marshes as the tide rises. 



Professor Rowan writes to me : 



Like the majority of waders, this godwit can swim with ease and has been 

 observed swimming of its own accord when crossing from one sand ridge to 

 another, and also when dropped into deep water after being shot in flight but 

 not killed. 



