3i6 Allen's naturalist's library. 



left its nest perhaps a thousand yards ahead, nor will it usually 

 return thereto until it has made itself pretty confident that the 

 danger has disappeared. To find the nest, therefore, is no 

 easy matter. Indeed, after considerable experience, I may 

 say that few birds are so cautious at their nests as Godwits, 

 and even after the nest has, after long search, been luckily dis- 

 covered, still the old birds never come within range of ordinary 

 gun-shot. The general cry of these waders, when not dis- 

 tressed, may be syllabled as '' iii-ec-tdbi\^ often repeated; but 

 they have a variety of cries, their distress-call being a clamorous 

 wail, not unlike that of a C'ommon Buzzard, though, of course, 

 not so loud." In food and general habits the present species 

 resembles the Bar-tailed Godwit. 



Nest. — Those found by Mr. Chapman were mere depressions 

 in the moss, without any special lining material. " The date 

 of laying," he writes, "seems to vary considerably, for on May 

 loth we found our first nest, containing four very hard-set 

 eggs, which must have been laid about the last week in April. 

 Then, on May 13th we not only found a nest containing four 

 fresh eggs, but we were also fortunate enough to discover a brood 

 of young ones, perhaps two days old. It should be mentioned, 

 in explanation, that we had thrice tried to find this last nest ; 

 but the bird always rose from a different part of the marsh, 

 w^hich led us to believe that she must have young, and it was 

 while making, after a long watch, a final effort to find the eggs, 

 that we accidentally stumbled on the young birds in the long 

 grass. On one occasion, after w^e had been lying for some 

 time pretty well concealed, we noticed, through the binoculars, 

 a Godwit walking and running towards us, until it eventually 

 disappeared quite suddenly. We thought that it might have 

 sat down on the nest, so we marked the place carefully, and 

 then stood up ; the bird instantly rose about 150 yards from 

 us, and on walking straight to the spot, Ave w^re delighted to 

 find the nest with four olive-green eggs. In another instance 

 we observed two birds playing together in the air, over a certain 

 part of the bog, in such a manner, that our suspicions were 

 sufficiently aroused to cause us to cross the quaking surface, 

 until we actually walked right on to the nest and its four eggs." 



Eggs. — Four in number, very similar to those of Z. lapponica^ 



