444 OBSERVATIONS ON 



choice and delicate plate of greens, culled and provided 

 in this extraordinary manner. 



which abound in such places, than for the grain or seeds ; and that it is 

 entirely an insectivorous bird*. MARKWICK. 



visited by cats, and they throve there exceedingly well on bread, boiled 

 potatoes, barley, and raw beef, each bird having one wing clipped. The 

 ruffs fought a little, but not seriously. It was observable that the red- 

 shanks ate little but the raw beef, of which they were marvellously vora- 

 cious, but they grew very lean, and it became ultimately evident that they 

 were not thriving, though active and lively. The ruffs and reeves ate 

 very little of the meat, which they appeared to disregard, occasionally 

 swallowed a grain of barley, but fared mainly on the potatoes and bread, 

 preferring the latter, which was cut into little squares, and they would 

 swallow it when quite hard, crust as well as crumb. The godwits ate 

 scarcely any thing but barley, which to my surprise appeared to be their 

 natural food : a single grain of barley was taken up with the point of 

 the extremely long bill, and by a sudden rapid jerk it was thrown into 

 the throat and swallowed. The godwits were incapable of drinking, 

 unless the vessel of water was either deep enough for the whole bill to 

 be immersed, or wide enough to allow the horizontal admission of the 

 entire bill, and their usual mode of drinking was to stoop the head to the 

 ground, and shovel up the water into the mouth. 



On their removal into the country they were turned into a large walled 

 garden, where after a few hours a godwit and ruff were found drowned 

 in a small pond where gold fish were kept, having jumped in. They were 

 both plump, and very good to eat when roasted. Soon after, a ruil' and 

 reeve were found in convulsions, the cause of which appeared to be their 

 having ate some ripe currants which were lying under the bushes. Large 

 doses of sweet oil were given to them ; the reeve died the next day, but 

 the ruff having continued two days in the most extraordinary convulsions, 

 and unable to run many paces without falling, recovered, and lived for a 

 year after, though with convulsive movements and contraction of the 

 neck. The redshanks soon died. The other ruffs throve exceedingly, 

 till successively killed by cats. One, of which half the body was res- 

 cued, was singularly fat. The last survivor lived through two winters 

 in perfect health in a small netted enclosure upon bread and potatoes, 

 with a few worms thrown to it occasionally, of which it was fond. When 

 there were only two ruffs, they fought perpetually. 



I apprehend that the natural use of the marvellously long bill of the 

 godwit must be to enable it to pick grains of rice and other aquatic 

 plants from the bottom of the water. This is remarkable concerning a 

 bird which naturalists have said to live by suction, and which yet is 

 unable to suck the water out of a pan, and would die of drought with 

 a narrow and shallow vessel of water at its side. W. H. 



* The numerous interesting facts connected with the migration of 

 birds, in the splendid works of Wilson and Audubon, lead us to conclude 



