i^'. 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



baffy grayish. Young resemble summer adults above and winter adults 

 below. 



Length 14-16.73 inches; extent 25-28; wing 7.5-8.6; tail 3-3.5; tarsus 

 2.35-2.55; tibia bare i; middle toe and claw 1.3; bill 2.75-3.5; weight 9-10 

 ounces. Female somewhat larger than the male. 



The Hudsonian godwit, or Ring-tailed marlin, is a nearctic species 



breeding in. arctic America, migrating southward through the Mississippi 



valley and along the Atlantic coast, and wintering in South America as 



far as Patagonia. It is more common than the Marbled godwit on the coast 



of Long Island and still occurs in small numbers during the migrations. 



In Butcher's Long Island Notes I find about 25 definite migration dates 



ranging between August 8th and October 9th, during the years 1881 to 



1893, the hight of the migration season seeming to occur between August 



23d and September loth. On August 31st, 1903, a large flight occurred 



along the Long Island coast and many gtinners killed a dozen or more of 



these birds [see Kobbe, Auk, 21: 79]. Dr Braislin also reports it from 



Quogue, L. I., September 23, 1896, and Rockaway, L. I., August 30, 1903 



[Auk, 22: 167]. Our inland records are as follows: 



Ithaca, N. Y. Nov. 5, 1878. (R. B. Hough). C. J. Pennock 

 Green Island, Albany co., N. Y. Oct. 24, 1882. A. F. Parks 

 Onondaga lake, N. Y. Oct. 13, 1883. A. W. Pen-ior 

 Lake Ontario, Orleans co., N. Y. Sept. 1890. David Bi-uce 

 Oneida Lake, N. Y. Sept. 7, Oct. 7, 1891. Bagg, Auk, 11; 163 



Godwits, like the curlews and larger plovers, formerly migrated along 

 the Atlantic coast in large flocks, but seldom appear in numbers unless 

 driven to land by storms, which force them from their ocean course between 

 Nev/foundland and South America. At such times they appear on Cape 

 Cod, Marthas Vineyard and eastern Long Island. Being fat from feeding 

 on the small shellfish, berries, and tender roots which abound on the 

 Labrador coast from which they came, they are highly prized by epicures. 

 They are very shy but respond readily to an imitation of their whistle, 

 or the cries of wotmded companions, and when these flights occur they 

 are taken in sreat numbers, whicli imdoubtedlv accounts for the decline 

 of this species, as its nesting grounds arepractically beyond the interference 

 of man. 



