164 Bent, The Marbled Godwit. [j^ 



by the ants which were constantly crawling into her eyes and half 

 open bill, causing her to wink or shake her head occasionally. I 

 reached down carefully and stroked her on the back, but still she 

 did not stir, and I was finally obliged to lift her off the nest in order 

 to photograph the eggs. 



The nest was exactly like the others, a hollow in the grass and 

 lined in the same manner by pressing down the grass into the 

 cavity, which measured seven by six inches in diameter and was 

 hollowed to a depth of about two inches. The four eggs which it 

 contained were found to be partially incubated. They are now in 

 my collection and may be described as follows : The ground color 

 is pale olive buff or cream buff; three of the eggs are quite evenly 

 marked with well defined spots of raw umber and mummy brown, 

 and with numerous subdued spots of lilac; the fourth is heavily 

 blotched with lilac gray, particularly about the larger end, over 

 which are scattered numerous irregular markings and small spots 

 of Vandyke brown; in shape they are ovate pyriform, and they 

 measure 2.30 by 1.58, 2.37 by 1.60, 2.32 by 1.61, and 2.31 by 1.57 

 inches. 



Another set of these eggs, also in my collection, was brought to 

 us by a ranchman with whom we were staying. Their ground 

 color is somewhat darker than either of my other sets, a rich green- 

 ish olive buff; they are rather sparingly marked with small dull 

 spots of Vandyke brown, wood brown and drab; in shape they are 

 slightly more pointed than the others and they measure 2.26 by 

 1.56, 2.21 by 1.57, and 2.31 by 1.59 inches. 



The flight of the Marbled Godwit is strong, swift and direct; 

 the head is usually drawn in somewhat, the bill pointed straight 

 forward and the feet stretched out behind. In general appearance 

 it closely resembles the Long-billed Curlew, which it nearly equals 

 in size, the rich brown coloring in the wings being conspicuous in 

 both species, but the long curved bill of the Curlew serves to dis- 

 tinguish it, even at a considerable distance, and the notes of the 

 two birds are entirely different. The Marbled Godwit has a great 

 variety of striking and characteristic notes. Its ordinary call note, 

 when only slightly disturbed, sounds like terwhit, terwhit, terwhit, 

 or pert-wurrit, pert-wurrit, or godwit, godwit, godwit, from which 

 its name is probably derived; these notes are all strongly accented 



