THE MARBLED GOD WIT. 517 



No. 239. 



MARBLED GODWIT. 



A. O. U. No. 249. Limosa fedoa (Linn.). 



Synonym. BROWN MARLIN. 



Description. Adult : General color pale cinnamon or ochraceous-buff ; the 

 head and neck all around streaked and spotted with brownish dusky ; the back, etc., 

 heavily and irregularly barred with the same, a typical feather from the scapulars 

 has a broad dusky center shaped like a dandelion leaf, the complementary spaces 

 being ochraceous-buff, or irregularly white ; the primary coverts, and outer webs 

 of three outer primaries brownish dusky; the breast (especially on sides), the sides, 

 flanks, and lower tail-coverts, with fine wavy bars of dusky ; the superciliary line 

 and throat immaculate ; the axillars and lining of wings darker, say pale cinna- 

 mon-rufous ; bill, slightly upturned, yellow at base, blackening toward tip ; feet and 

 legs blackish. Immature : Similar to adult, but immaculate on breast ; sides and 

 flanks less distinctly and extensively barred. Length 16.50-21.00 (419.1-533.4) ; 

 wing 9.15 (232.4) ; tail 3.13 (79.5) ; bill 4.28 ( 108.7) ; tarsus 2.74 (69.6). 



Recognition Marks. Crow size ; large size ; long, slightly upturned bill ; 

 pale cinnamon coloration ; "marbled" appearance of upper parts. 



Nesting. Not known to breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground. Eggs, 3 or 4, 

 light olive-brown, finely speckled and spotted with dark brown and purplish gray. 

 Av. size, 2.18 x 1.64 (55.4 x 41.7). 



General Range. North America, breeding in the interior (from Iowa and 

 Nebraska northward to Manitoba and the Saskatchewan). Migrating in winter 

 to Guatemala, Yucatan, etc., and Cuba. 



Range in Ohio. Not common migrant. 



THIS good wight has wit enough at least to avoid our coasts of late; 

 and Professor Jones in his recent catalog is able to add nothing to Dr. Whea- 

 ton's records. The bird cannot be blamed exactly, since one of the last records 

 was of thirty-three, which were "shot in one day, near the mouth of the 

 Little Miami, some years ago by - , Esq." 



According to Dr. Coues, the center of the bird's abundance in summer 

 includes the northwestern prairie states and the region of the Saskatchewan. 

 "It breeds in Iowa," he says, "and in Minnesota and eastern Dakota, where I 

 observed it in June, and where the eggs have been procured. I found it on the 

 plains bordering the Red River, in company with Long-billed Curlews and 

 great numbers of Bartramian Sandpipers, nesting like these species, on the 

 prairie near the river, and about the adjoining pools, but not necessarily by 

 the water's edge. In its habits at this season it most nearly resembles the Cur- 

 lew, and the two species, of much the same size and general appearance, might 

 be readily mistaken at a distance where the difference in the bill might not be 

 perceived. On intrusion near the nest, the birds mount in the air with loud 

 piercing cries, hovering slowly around with labored flight in evident distress, 

 and approaching sometimes within a few feet of the observer." 



