THE HUDSONIAN GODWIT. 465 
At this season, these birds associate with other species ; 
and it is a common occurrence to bring to the ground, at 
one discharge ofthe gun into one of these flocks, two or 
three different species. 
By the 20th of September, they have left our shores. 
They are most abundant about the first week in that month. 
LIMOSA HUDSONICA. — Swainson. 
The Hudsonian Godwit. 
Scolopax Hudsonica, Latham. Ind. Orn., II. (1790) 720. 
Limosa Hudsonica. Sw. F. B. A., II. (1831) 396. Nutt. Man., II. (1834) 175 
Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1885) 426; V. 592. Jb., Birds Am., V. (1842) 335 
DESCRIPTION. 
Smaller than the preceding; bill longer than the head; both mandibles grooved, 
slightly recurved; wings long; legs moderate; membrane uniting the outer and 
middle toe large. 
Adult.— Upper parts brownish-black, with spots and transverse bars of pale- 
reddish on the back; rump brownish-black; upper tail coverts white; wing coverts 
and shorter quills dark-cinereous; primaries brownish-black; under parts yellowish- 
red, with transverse bars of brownish-black on the breast and sides and under tail 
coverts, and frequently with the feathers on the abdomen widely tipped with white; 
tail black, with the base white, and narrowly tipped with white; under wing coverts 
and axillary feathers black; shafts of primaries white; bill pale-yellowish at base; 
tip brownish-black; legs bluish-brown. 
Younger. — Head and upper parts cinereous, irregularly marked on the top of the 
head, and on the back, with brownish-black; stripe before, and over the eye, white; 
under parts dull yellowish-white; under wing coverts and axillaries black; rump 
black; upper tail coverts white; tail black; base and tip white; bill yellow, tipped 
with brownish-black; legs dark-brown; iris brown. 
Total length, about fifteen inches; wing, eight; tail, three; bill, two and three- 
quarters to three and a half; tarsus, two and a half inches. 
This species is less abundant than the preceding, seldom 
more than a half-dozen specimens being taken in a season 
on our coast. It associates with the other, and has all its 
habits and characteristics. It is called, by the gunners, the 
‘Smaller Doe-bird.” 
Like the Greater Godwit, it breeds in the most northern 
sections of the country. I have no specimen of its egg 
by me, and can give no description of its breeding habits 
here. 
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