320 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Patagonia. It is a common migrant, especially in the fall, along the coast 

 of New York and the Great Lakes. On our smaller lakes and rivers it is 

 much less common though by no means one of the rarest shore birds. The 

 spring migrations on Long Island begin from the 15th to the 30th of March 

 and end from the ist to the 14th of Jime. By the4th of Julyafeware already 

 returning from the north and the migration is well under way by the ist or 

 loth of August. They are usually found in numbers through September and 

 October and a few are observed as late as November 20th and December 8th. 

 Stragglers of this species like the Red-backed sandpiper are occasionally 

 taken in midwinter on the coast of Long Island. In western New York 

 the Sanderling is not often observed in spring, but sometimes occurs late 

 in May when the southern birds are hurrying to their breeding grounds. 



The Sanderling, or Surf snipe, is the whitest of all our sandpipers 

 and our most characteristic beach bird. Even more than the Sand oxeye 

 they prefer the sandy beaches, bars and flats which are washed by the waves, 

 and are usually seen running in troops along the hard packed sand, advancing 

 as each wave recedes and retreating as the next advances, gleaning the 

 small mollusks, crustaceans and insects which are w^ashed up on the shore. 

 They are quite gregarious and numerous flocks circle up and down the beach 

 at a low elevation, occasionally uttering their "slender and rather plaintive 

 whistle." Late in the fall they become exceedingly fat and are usually 

 regarded as a delicacy. 



Limosa fedoa (Linnaeus) 

 Marbled Godwit 



Plate 37 



Scolopax fedoa Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:146 

 Limosa fedoa DeKav. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 252, fig. 238 

 A. O. U. Cfieck List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 249 



limo'sa, Lat., muddy; fed'oa, of unknown derivation 



Description. Large; bill and legs long; bill bent slightly upward for its 

 whole length; tarsi about twice as long as the middle toe; toes narrowly 

 margined; tail short and even; general color pale ocherous or cinnamon or 

 ocherous buff; head and upper parts streaked and barred with dusky 



