300 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the axillars are jet black and the lining of the wing is black; the 

 wings are nearly black, with a small, central white patch, much 

 smaller than that of the willet. An immature bird while standing, 

 might be mistaken for a willet, but it is a much slenderer bird and 

 has a longer, slenderer bill. 



Fall. — Hudsonian godwits gather in flocks on the western shores 

 of Hudson Bay, preparing for their eastward migration to the Atlan- 

 tic coasts of the Maritime Provinces and New England. The normal 

 migration route is probably over the ocean from Nova Scotia to 

 British Guiana or Brazil, the birds being seen in New England and 

 Long Island only Avhen driven in by severe storms. 



E. A. Preble (1902) saw a number on the beach about 50 miles 

 north of York Factory as early as July 19, and it was last seen by 

 him below Cape Churchill on August 24, 1900. This was the begin- 

 ning of the eastward migration from Hudson Bay. The species is 

 practically unknown in the interior of southern Canada in the fall. 



Doctor Sanford (1903) writes: 



I have seen these birds on some of the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 in large flocks. They arrive late in July, the first comers being steadily aug- 

 mented by new arrivals until by the first week of August their greatest abund- 

 ance has been reached. From this time on the numbers rapidly decrease, and by 

 the last of the month only odd birds are seen. The young appear about the 

 middle of September, and until October 1 are common in the same locations. 

 On the adjacent mainland and the shores farther south the birds are seldom 

 met with, and then only as odd stragglers. Where they stop next and what 

 their course is on departing is a mystery. Probably they keep well out to the 

 open sea, and along with the golden plover wisely skip the United States in the 

 fall flight south. 



As indicated above, Hudsonian godwits evidently pass by New 

 England far out at sea in fair weather, as they are strong, swift 

 fliers, capable of a long, continuous flight. But during heavy east- 

 erly storms they are occasionally driven in and onto our coasts. The 

 first one I shot was one of four birds taken on Monomoy Island, 

 Massachusetts, September 5, 1892, after a severe northeast storm, 

 which lasted for two days and brought in a heavy flight of shore 

 birds. This was an adult. I have two other birds, both young 

 birds, taken on Cape Cod on October 2 and 4. Mr. Forbush (1912) 

 reports " a flock of about 50 birds seen at Ipswich on August 26, 1908, 

 of which several were killed." He also says : 



On August 13, 1903, a large flight occurred on the Long Island coast and 

 many were killed, but little was heard of them to the southward. The only 

 flight of godwits that is shown on the record of Chatham Beach Hotel for 

 seven years is in August, 1903. No birds were taken on the 13th, when the 

 great flight appeared on Long Island, for at Chatham the weather apparently 

 was fair, with a west wind. One bird, perhaps a straggler from the Long 

 Island flight, was picked up on the 20th after a southeast wind had blown 



