MARBLED GOD WIT. 397 



COLOR. Adult. Above, dark-brown, streaked and bunded with reddish-yellow. Wings, reddish-yellow, with greater 

 coverts and outer webs and tips of primaries, brown, and remainder of feathers finely sprinkled with the same eolor. Tail, 

 also reddish-yellow, spotted and banded with dark-brown. Beneath, yellowish-red, palest on throat, streaked on neck and 

 banded everywhere below this, excepting on abdomen, with dark-brown. 



Young. Similar to the adult, but mueh paler, and there are few or no markings beneath. Iris and feet, brown, and 

 bill, brown, yellow on basal half, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Readily known by the large size, upturned bill, and general reddish colors as described. Distributed, in summer, in 

 North-eastern Florida and throughout the region west of the Mississippi; wintering from the Carolinas, southward. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of specimeas from Eastern North America. Length, 18-50; stretch, 31 '00; wing, 9 - 50; tail, 3 50; 

 bill, 4- 10; tarsus, 2'70. Longest specimen, 1!)'50; greatest extent of wing, 32'OO; longest wing, lO'OO: tail.4'00; bill, 4'70; tar- 

 sus, 2-80. Shortest specimen, 17'50; smallest extent of wing, SO'OO; shortest wing, 9'00; tail, 3'00; bill, 3'50; tarsus, 2 60. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND ECUS. 



F.<I<JS, placed on the ground in a slight depression of the soil on a little grass, etc.; from two to four in number, long 

 oval in form, varying from creamy to pale buff in color, spotted and blotched, rather sparcely, with yellowish-brown of va- 

 rying shades, with the usual pale shell markings. Dimensions from T45x2'20 to I'50x2'2o. 



HABITS. 



The Marbled Godwits are very common in the South in winter, but they are particu- 

 larly abundant in Florida. Back of Amelia .Island, just south of St. Mary's River, thus 

 lying on the extreme northern confines or the State, are extensive flats, on which are pools 

 that become partly dry during winter. These were the familiar resorts of the Godwits, and 

 flocks of hundreds would gather around them. They were quite wild while here, rising 

 witli deafening clamor when approached, but they had become so attached to the locality, 

 that they would merely circle about and alight on the borders of some neighboring pool. 

 From this point, southward along the eastern coast, as far as Merritt's Island, they were 

 very numerous, but were not common at Miami, and I did not see them on the Keys. On 

 the west coast, however, they occurred in large numbers, especially on the muddy flats about 

 Cedar Keys. On Indian River, I found the Godwits very unsuspicious, insomuch so, that 

 I have frequently killed them with dust shot. When one is wounded so as to be unable to 

 fly, it utters loud cries which attract the attention of its surviving companions, and they will 

 frequently circle about until many are killed. Late in spring, I found the Marbled God- 

 wits on the marshes of the west side of Matanzas River, and at this season, they uttered 

 peculiar, abruptly given, shivering notes which, I was assured by the inhabitants, were on- 

 ly given when the birds were about to breed, and that they would deposit their eggs on the 

 on the dryer portions of the marshes in a week or two. At this time, the Godwits were 

 accustomed to perch on the dead mangroves, near the edge of the water. The eggs which 

 I have described and which are well authenticated specimens, were taken near Salt Lake 

 City, where the birds appear to breed quite commonly. 



UENUS XIII. NUMEN1US. THE CURLEWS. 



GEX. Cu. Bill, longer than head, slender, not expanded at lip, and welt-curved downward. Hind loe, present. Mar- 

 ginal indentations, four, outer considerably deeper than inner. 



The stomach is oval and flat in form, very muscular, and lined with a hard, rugose membrane. Cocca, long and 

 slender, with the blind ends pointed. With the exception of the above given characters, members of this genus resemble 

 those of the two preceding genera. Sexes, similar. There are three species within our limits 



