AMERICAN OBNITHOLOGY. 253 



MARBLED GODWIT. 



A. O. U. No. 249. (Limosa fedoa) 



RANGE. 



Whole of North America, breeding in the interior from Minnesota 

 and the Dakotas northwards. Winters south of the United States. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length 18 in. Bill curved slightly upward. Adults in summer. — 



back and wings yellowish brovvn barred with black; tail chestnut barred 



with black. Underparts buffy barred with black in fine wavy lines. 



In winter they are uniform grayish above faintly marked with darker, 



and a grayish white below. 



NESTS AND EGGS. 



Marbled Godwits breed in the interior of northern United States and 



from thence north to the Arctic Ocean. They scoop out a slight hol- 



low in the ground and line it with a few grasses: in this they lay three 



or four eggs during June. The eggs are a buffy drab spotted and 



blotched with blackish brown and yellowish. The nests are sometimes 



found in fields remote from water but are usually placed in marshy lo- 



calities beside of ponds, pools or brooks. 



HABITS. 



With the exception of the Long-billed Curlew this is one of the larg- 

 est of the North American shore birds and as its flesh is very palatable 

 they are one of the most persistently hunted of all the shore birds dur- 

 ing the brief period that they remain with us in the fall. They are 

 usually found in flocks of from ten to thirty individuals but on rare oc- 

 casions several hundreds may be met with together. They are much 

 more abundantly met with in the interior about fresh water ponds but 

 for a Short time in the fall and again in the spring, numbers of them are 

 found along both coasts. They call quite readily and also come to de- 

 coys which are stuck up in marshes or on beaches to attract passing: 

 flocks of waders. Their flight is very rapid and the whole flock wheel 

 like one unit, as if they were trained soldiers. They feed along the 

 beaches and marshes at low tide, upon marine insects and small shell- 

 fish. 



