GREAT MARBLED GODW1T 103 



undulating bars of black with which the breast of the male is 

 marked, and which are wanting in the female. 



The male of the Great Marbled Godwit is nineteen inches 

 long, and thirty -four inches in extent; the bill is nearly six in- 

 ches in length, a little turned up towards the extremity, where 

 it is black, the base is of a pale purplish flesh colour; chin and 

 upper part of the throat whitish; head and neck mottled with 

 dusky brown and black on a ferruginous ground; breast barred 

 with wavy lines of black; back and scapulars black, marbled 

 with pale brown; rump and tail-coverts of a very light brown, 

 barred with dark brown; tail even; except the two middle fea- 

 thers, which are a little the longest; wings pale ferruginous, ele- 

 gantly marbled with dark brown, the four first primaries black 

 on the outer edge; whole lining and lower parts of the wings 

 bright ferruginous; belly and vent light rust colour, with a tinge 

 of lake. 



The female differs in wanting the bars of black on the breast. 

 The bill does not acquire its full length before the third year. 



About fifty different species of the Scolopax genus are enu- 

 merated by naturalists. These are again by some separated in- 

 to three classes or sub-genera; viz. the straight-billed, or Snipes; 

 those with bills bent downwards, or the Curlews; and those 

 whose bills are slightly turned upwards, or Godwits. The whole 

 are a shy, timid and solitary tribe, frequenting those vast marsh- 

 es, swamps and morasses, that frequently prevail in the vicini- 

 ty of the ocean, and on the borders of large rivers. They are 

 also generally migratory, on account of the periodical freezing 

 of those places in the northern regions where they procure their 

 food. The Godwits are particularly fond of salt marshes; and 

 are rarely found in countries remote from the sea. 



