• •' MARBLED GODWIT. 



213 



Color. Ai/uU. AIiovp, ilark-brown, 'streaked ami liandwl with reddish-yellow. Wings, reddisii-yellow, with greater 

 coverts, and outer wehs and tip.s of primaries, bnjwn, and leniainder of icather.s linely sprinkled with the same color. Tail 

 also reddi.sh-yellow, spotted and banded with dark-hr.jwn. Beneath, yeliowisli-red, palest on throat, streaked on neek and 

 banded everywhere below this, e.\cepting on abdomen, with dark-brown. 



Young. Siuiiiar to the adult, but mueli paler, and there are few or no marking.s beneath. Iris and feet brown and 

 bill, lirowD, yellow on hasai lialf, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 Readily known by the large size, upturned bill, and general reddish colnrs n.s des<!ribed. Distributed, in summer in 

 North-eastern Florida and throughout the region west of the Mississippi; wintering from the Carolinas, southward. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, lH-5(i; stretch,. Sl-OO: winir.n-.'in; tail. 3 50- 

 bill, 4-10; tarsus, 2-70. Longest specimen, U)-50; greatest extent of wing, 3-2-0i); longestwing, lO-OO; tail..l-(in; bill, 470; tar- 

 sus, 2'80. Shortest specimen, 175(); smallest extent of wing, 30-0(1; shortest wing, 900; tail, 3-00; bill, 3-.^0; tarsus, 2 60. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 Eyys, placed on the ground in a slight depression of the soil on a little grass, etc.; from two to four in number, lono- 

 oval in form, varying from creamy to pale buff in color, spotted and blotched, rather sparcely. with yellowish-brown of va- 

 rying shades, with the usual pale shell markings. Dimensions from l'45x2"20 to l"50x2'25. 



HABITS. 

 The Marbled Godwits are very common in the South in winter, but they are particu- 

 larly abundant in Florida. Back of Amelia Island, just south of St. Mary's River, thus 

 lying on the extreme northern confines or the State, are extensive flats, on whicli are pools 

 that become partly dry during winter. These were the familiar resorts of the Godwits, and 

 flocks of hundreds would gather around them. They were quite wild while here, rising 

 with deafening clamor when approache<l, but they liad become so attached to the locality, 

 that tliey would merely circle about and alight on the borders of some neighboring pool. 

 From this point, southward along the eastern coast, as far as Merritt's Lsland, they were 

 very numerous, but were not common at Miami, and I did not see them on the Keys. On 

 the west coast, however, they occurred in large numbers, especially on the muddy flats about 

 Cedar Keys. On Indian River, I found the Godwits very unsuspicious, insomuch so, that 

 I have frequently killed them with dust shot. When one is wounded so as to be unable to 

 fly, it utters loud cries which tittnict the attention of its surviving companions, and they will 

 frequently circle about until many are killed. Late in spring, I found tlie Marbled God- 

 wits on the marshes of the west side of Matanzas River, and at this season, they uttered 

 ^peculiar, abruptly given, shivering notes which, I was assured by the inhabitants, were on- 

 ly giA en when the birds were about to breed, and that they would dejxjsit tlieir eggs on the 

 on the dryer portions of the marshes in a wetdv or two. At this time, tlie Godwits were 

 accustomed to perch on the dead m;ingrov(!S, near the edge of the water. The eggs whicli 

 I have described and wliich ;ire well authenticiited specimens, were taken near Salt Lake 

 City, whore the liinis appear to breed (piire cdnininnly. 



GRNIS.XUI. Ni^IKMIS. TIIK ( IIM.KWS. 



Gen. Cm. Bill, longer ihan head, slender, not "ocpaniled at lip, ami well-cvrved downward. Hind lue, present. Mar- 

 ginal indentations, four, outer considerably deeper ttian inner. 



The stomach is oval and flat in form, very mu.scular, and lined with a hard, rugose membrane. Coocn, long and 

 slender, with the blind ends pointed. With the exception of the above given characters, members of this genus resemble 

 those of the two preceding genera. Sexes, similar. There are three species within our limits 



