HUDSONIAN GODWIT. 481 



movint in the air with loud, piercing cries, hovering slowly around with labored flight 

 in evident distreBa, and approaching sometimes within a few feet of the observer. 



The only perfect set of eggs of the Godwit I have seen were taken June 1, 1871, fifty 

 miles northwest of Saint Paul, Minnesota ; both parents were secured and deposited in 

 the Saint Paul Academy, where I examined them ; so that the identification is unques- 

 tionable. There are three eggs in this set, measaring 2.30 by 1.60, 2.28 by 1.56, and 2.25 

 by 1.62. The color is a clear, light plivaceoua drab ; the markings are small and nnm- 

 erouB, but not very strongly pronounced — there is nothing (in this set) of the heavy 

 blotching and marking usually seen in waiders' eggs. The spots are pretty evenly dis- 

 tributed, though rather larger in two instances, and more numerous in the other instance, 

 about the bntt than elsewhere. These markings are of various umber-brown shades, 

 with the usual stone-gray shell spots." 



LlMOSA H^MASTICA (L.) CoueS. 

 !H!ti.dso33ia.ii Orodi^lt. 

 Limosa hudsonioa, Kirtland, Ohio Geo og. Snrv., 1838, 165, 185. — Whkaton, Ohio Agric. 

 Eep. for 1860, 369, 378 ; Reprint, 1861. 11, 20 ; Food of Birds, stc, Ohio Agric. Rep. 

 for 1874, 572 ; Reprint, 12.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Gin., 1677, 15. 

 Limosa hcemaitica, Langdon, Revised List, Jonra. Gin. Soc. Hat. Hist., i, 1879, 183 ; Re- 

 print, 17. 



Scolopam hamattic; LlKSJEVS, Syst. Nat., 1758, 147. 



Limosa hudsonica, 8wain80N and Richardson, Fn. Bor.-Am., ii, 1831. 



Limoia hcmmstica, Coune, Mrds, N. W., 1874, 760. 



Tail Waok, largely white at base, its coverts mostly white ; rump blackish ; lining of 

 wings extensively blackish ; under- parts in the breeding season intense rufous (chiefly 

 barred) with dusky ; head, neck and upper-parts brownish-black, variegated with gray, 

 reddish and usually some wbilish speckling ; qaills blackish, more or less white at the 

 base. Toung and apparently winter specimens much paler, tawny-whitish below, more 

 gray above. Considerably smaller than the foregoing, about 15 ; wing, 8 or less ; bill, 

 34- or less ; tarsus, 2^ or less. 



Habitat, Northern and Eastern North America. West Indies. South America. Breeds 

 far northward. Not noted west of the Rocky Monntains. Rare along the Atlantic. 



Rare spring and fall migrant. Dr. Kirtland notes its capture in the 

 vicinity of Cincinnati, and Mr. Winslow mentions its occurrence near 

 Cleveland. I met with a flock of eight birds, in the spring of 1858, 

 wading in a shallow pond in an old brick-yard within the city limits, 

 but was not so fortunate as to secure specimens. In the spring of 1861, 

 a fine specimen was taken below the State dam, near the city, by a sports- 

 man and taxidermist, which was preserved until recently. 



The eggs of the Hudsonian Godwit are of a very dark olive-drab color, 

 with blotches of still darker drab. They measure about 2.18 by 1.40. 



Genus TOTANUS. Beohstein. 



Bill nearly straight, about equal to or shorter than the tsTBUs, not grooved in its 

 terminal fourth. Gape of mouth extending beyond base of oulmen. Tarsi sonteUate in 

 front and behiud. 

 31 



