CHAPTER LX. 



GODWIT SHOOTING. 



" The pnet, godwit, stint, the palate that allure 

 The miser, and doe make a wasteful epicure." 



Drayton. 



There are several dijfFerent species of godwit (Scolopax limosd) whicli 

 annually visit our shores ; and thoug'li they come with easterly winds, 

 they are more numerous in mild winters than severe ones. They are 

 abundantly scattered about our shores, and afford young sportsmen 

 excellent amusement. They are not very shy, nor are they at all diffi- 

 cult to kill. They frequent marshes and fens, as well as the seacoast, 

 where they run about with brisk and interesting movements, and 

 will sometimes allow the sportsman to walk directly up to them on 

 the open marshes, within easy gun-shot. Godwits are in much esti- 

 mation with the sporting gastronome j they are preferred by some 

 people to snipes. 



Sir Thomas Brown quaintly remarks of them, " Godwyts, taken 

 chiefly in marsh land, though other parts are not without them, are 

 accounted the daintiest dish in England ; and I think for the bigness 

 of the biggest price.' ' 



The female godwit is larger than the male ; which is also the case 

 with sand-pipers. 



Ben Jonson in his, " Praises of a Countrie Life," says — 



" Th' Ionian godwit nor the ginn)'^ hen, 

 Could not goe downe my belly then 

 More sweet than olives that new gathered be 

 — From the fattest branches of the tree." 



