Vol i90?" IV ] Bent > The Marbled Godwit. 165 



on the last syllable, and are uttered almost constantly while the 

 birds are flying about over their breeding grounds. When consid- 

 erably alarmed these notes are intensified, more rapidly given, and 

 with even more emphasis, kerweck, kerwee-eck, or kerreck, kreck, 

 kreck, kerreck; sometimes they are prolonged into a loud, long- 

 drawn out scream quack, qua-a-ack, or quoick, quoi-i-'ick, somewhat 

 between the loudest quacking of an excited duck and the scream of 

 a Red-shouldered Hawk. There is also a more musical, whistling 

 note, less often heard, sounding like the syllables kor-koit or ker-kor- 

 koit, korkoit, the accent being on the kor in each case; this note 

 seems to indicate a more satisfied frame of mind and is much more 

 subdued in tone. All of these notes are subject to great individ- 

 ual variation, and, as the God wits are very noisy birds, we were 

 given ample opportunities to study them, but to write them down 

 in a satisfactory manner is not so easy. 



Like all of the shore birds, the Marbled Godwit is exceedingly 

 demonstrative on its breeding grounds, flying out to meet the 

 intruder as soon as he appears, making fully as much fuss at a 

 distance from its nest as near it, and giving no clue as to its exact 

 location. The cries of one pair of birds often attract others, and 

 I have seen as many as eighteen birds flying about at one time in an 

 especially favorable locality. It shows no signs of fear at such 

 times, often alighting on the ground within ten or fifteen yards, 

 standing for an instant with its beautifully marbled wings poised 

 above it, a perfect picture of parental solicitude. Even while feed- 

 ing on the shores of the lakes we could frequently walk up to within 

 a few yards of them, and Mr. Job succeeded in photographing 

 several of them in this way. 



Though we looked diligently for the young, we did not succeed 

 in finding any until June 27, 1906. Dr. Bishop and I were driving 

 across some extensive wet meadows, ideal breeding grounds for 

 Marbled Godwits, when we saw a Godwit, about a hundred yards 

 ahead of us, leading two of its young across a shallow grassy pool ; 

 we drove towards them as fast as we could, but as we drew near 

 the old bird took wing and the young separated, moving off into 

 the grass in opposite directions. They had evidently been well 

 schooled in the art of hiding, and were well fitted by their pro- 

 tective coloring to escape notice, for, though we secured one of 



