340 THE GODW1T. 



small worms and insects. During these seasons it only removes 

 from one marsh or fen to another, but when the winter sets in 

 with seventy (for the godwit continues with us the whole year), 

 it seeks the salt-marshes, and the sandy shores by the sea-side, 

 which for a great space are uncovered at the ebbing of the tide, 

 where it walks like the curlew, and feeds upon the insects which 

 there abound. 



This bird is rather bigger than the woodcock, being in length 

 from sixteen to eighteen inches, and between the tips of the ex- 

 tended wings twenty-eight inches broad. The weight twelve 

 ounces. Bill four inches long, bending a little upwards, black 

 at the point, gradually softening into a pale purple towards the 

 base ; the under mandible the shortest ; the tongue sharp ; the 

 nostrils oblong ; and the ears large. A whitish streak passes 

 from the bill to the eye ; the head, neck, and upper parts of a 

 dingy reddish brown, each feather marked down the middle with 

 a dark spot. The fore part of the breast is streaked with black : 

 in the female the throat and neck are grey or ash- coloured ; the 

 belly, vent, and tail, are white, the latter regularly barred with 

 black ; the six prime quill feathers are black, edged on the in- 

 terior sides with reddish brown. In some birds the rump is 

 white, and the chin nearly so ; the legs are not very long, naked 

 to the middle of the second joint, and are generally dark-coloured, 

 inclining to a greenish blue. 



The godwit is met with in various parts of the continent of 

 Europe and Asia, as well as in America : at Hudson's Bay, 

 the red godwit in particular is so plentiful, that Mr. Atkinson, 

 long resident at York Fort, killed seventy-two at one shot ! 



