xEIS-BIRD SUOOTING. HI 



middle toe-uail to the upper part of the thigh, five inches and 

 a half. 



Colonel Montague says there is a larger kind of ffodmt thsin this; 

 one weigliing twelve ounces, and measuring about eighteen inches 

 in length. The godwit was known formerly as a permanent resi- 

 dent with us, resorting to the fens from the moors, where they are 

 taken by means of a stale or stuifed bird, after the mamier of the 

 ruif and reeves. Towards the winter the goodwit may be seen at 

 the mouths of many of our large rivers, and, as we understand, it 

 was then a very popular object of pursuit to water-fowl shooters. 

 A-t Hudson's Bay it packs in such numbers, that there have been 

 fifty and sixty of them killed at one shot. There is another variety 

 of the godwit _ besides that above mentioned, having the greater 

 covert of its wdngs so deeply margined with light gray brown as to 

 appear almost all white at a distance,_ and the sides of the body have 

 a few long streaks of brown. The bird is met with in various parts 

 of Europe, Asia, and A.meriea ; and in Great Britam, in the spring 

 and summer, it takes up its residence in the fenny districts and 

 marshy grounds, where it_ rears its young, and feeds upon small 

 worms and insects. Dui-ing these seasons it only removes from 

 one boggy locality to another; but when severer frosts come in 

 winter, it betakes itself to the salt-marshes and sea-shores. The 

 flesh of the godwit is highly esteemed by epicures, and sells at a 

 high figure.* 



The Wheatear {Motacilla CEna7ithe, Linn.) — This is a small bird 

 for small sportsmen. It is often shot on the Brighton Down, and 

 is taken there, and in some other neighbouring localities, ia great 

 numbers, by means of two turfs placed on edge, at each end of 

 which a small horse-hair noose is fixed to a stick, which the bird, 

 either in search of food or to evade a storm of rain, attempts to get 

 under, and is caught. Colonel Montague says, " In confinement 

 they are almost continually ia song, and sing by night as well as 

 day; they have a very pleasant, variable, and agreeable song, dif- 

 ferent from all other birds ; sometimes it is very loud, and they 

 continue it a great length of time, not continualljr breaking off like 

 a robin-redbreast and some other birds ; but their winter song is 

 best and most varied." The following beautiful lines on this 

 interesting migratory bird, are from the pen of Miss Charlotte 

 Smith:— 



" Prom that deep sheltered soKtude 

 Where, in some quarry, wild and rude. 

 Your feathered mother reared her brood, 



Why, pilgrim, did you brave 

 The upland winds, so bleak and keen, 

 To seek these lulls, whose slopes between. 

 Wide stretched in gray expanse, is seen 



The ocean's toiling wave ? 



* Bewick, Montague, and Blaue. 



