Shore-bird Shooting 401 



The Hudsonian godwit is rather an uncom- 

 mon bird, probably at no time abundant on the 

 Atlantic Coast of the United States. It is now 

 a rare straggler, and in the haunts famous for 

 shore-birds along our shores an odd one is only 

 occasionally taken. This species is known by the 

 gunners in some localities as spotted rump, spotted 

 marlin, or ring-tailed marlin. 



One of the market gunners on Cape Cod told 

 me during the gunning season he usually killed 

 one or two of these birds. On Long Island I 

 have heard the same story. Those specimens 

 I have known of in these places have been adults 

 in immature plumage, taken early in August. 

 The young bird would not appear before the 

 middle of September. Farther north on the 

 Atlantic Coast the Hudsonian godwit is a regular 

 summer migrant, congregating in large numbers 

 on the shores of Hudson Bay and Labrador, pre- 

 paratory to the start south. I have seen these 

 birds on some of the islands in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence in large flocks. They arrive late in 

 July, the first comers being steadily augmented 

 by new arrivals until by the first week of August 

 their greatest abundance has been reached. From 

 this time on the numbers rapidly decrease, and by 

 the last of the month only odd birds are seen. 

 The young appear about the middle of Septem- 

 ber and until October 1 are common in the 



