396 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFOENIA 



California. The relatively small numbers which occur along our 

 coasts, and the extreme northern location of their breeding grounds, 

 make any great future diminution in the number of Sanderlings 

 visiting California improbable. 



Marbled Godwit 



Limosa fcdoa (Linnaeus) 



Other names — Godwit; Great Marbled Godwit; American Bar-tailed God- 

 wit; Straight-billed Curlew; Common Marlin; Eed Marlin; Spike-bill. 



Description — Adults, hoth sexes, at all seasons: Top of head and hind neck 

 streaked with brownish black and pale buffy; stripe from upper mandible to 

 above eye, dull white, flecked with blackish brown ; area between base of bill 

 and eye densely mottled with brown; sides of head and w^hole neck buffy white, 

 narrowly streaked with brown; chin white; bill pale yellowish, reddish at 

 base, brownish black at end; iris brown; feathers of back blackish brown, 

 extensively marked with manj'^ irregular spots or incomplete bar? of pale tawny 

 or buffy white, the whole producing a marbled appearance; rump, upper tail 

 coverts and tail, irregularly barred with brownish black on a cinnamon or 

 buffy ground, the light color predominating; outer surface of closed wing 

 chiefly cinnamon, with irregular markings and flecks of dull brown; primary 

 coverts brownish black; primaries brownish black along outer webs, and 

 cinnamon sprinkled with brownish black on inner w^ebs; margin of wing scaled 

 with cinnamon and brownish black; axillars and lining of wing, pale cinnamon, 

 faintly marked with brownish black; quills of primaries whitish below, that 

 of outermost one white above; under surface of body pale cinnamon, lightest 

 in region of vent; throat narrowly streaked with blackish brown; breast, sides, 

 flanks and lower tail coverts, marked across each feather with several narrow 

 wavy bars of blackish brown; feet lead color or black. Males: Total length 

 16.56-18.00 inches (423-457 mm.) (seven specimens) ; folded wing 8.46-8.85 

 (215-225); bill along eulmen 3.69-4.42 (93.7-112.2); tarsus 2.78-3.04 (70.7-77.1) 

 (seven specimens). Females: Total length 16.95-19.10 (430-485) (seven speci- 

 mens); folded wing 8.75-9.56 (222-243); bill along eulmen 4.85-5.03 (123.0- 

 127.8); tarsus 2.87-3.07 (72.8-78.0) (three specimens); all adults and full 

 grown immatures from California. Juveinle plumage: Similar to that of adult, 

 but markings above less sharply defined, and entire lower surface cinnamon, 

 becoming buffy on throat, sparingly streaked with dusky on lower neck, and 

 faintly and narrowly barred with dull brown on flanks. Natal plumage: 

 "... Pinkish buff in color, more pronounced on the sides and neck, })aler 

 ventrally, and almost white on the throat, chin, and sides of the head. The 

 occiput, cervix [=hind neck], back, rump and wings were heavily blotched 

 wuth seal brown, or clouded with hair brown, the latter color shading off 

 gradually into the buff on the sides. ... A narrow loral stripe [between bill 

 and eye] . . . and a median crown stripe of seal brown, the latter running 

 from the base of the bill to the occiput" (Bent, 1907«, p. 166). 



Marks for field identification — Large size (among the largest of our 

 shore birds), long straight or slightly up-curved bill, and reddish or cinnamon 

 colored plumage; distinguished from Hudsonian Curlew by straight or slightly 

 up-turned rather than down-curved bill, .by distinctly reddish coloration, and 

 by less clear call-notes; from Long-billed Curlew by smaller size and straightish 

 bill. 



