316 TELL-TALE TATLER. 



tudinal rugae, and of a dark red colour. Intestine 18 inches long, its greatest 

 width in the duodenal part l| twelfths, the smallest toward the rectum 1 

 twelfth. Cceca 1 inch 2 twelfths long, 1 twelfth wide, 1^ inches distant 

 from the extremity. Cloaca obovate, 5 twelfths in width. Trachea 3 

 inches 2 twelfths in length, from 2| twelfths to lj twelfths in width; rings 

 130, extremely narrow, and cartilaginous. Bronchial half rings. Muscles 

 as in the last species. 



TELL-TALE GODWIT.— TELL-TALE TATLER. 



—TOTANUS VOCIFERUS, Wlls. 



PLATE CCCXLV Male and Female in Winter. 



It is my opinion that they who have given so much importance to the cry 

 of this bird, as to believe it to be mainly instrumental in ensuring the safety 

 of other species, and in particular of Ducks, have called in the aid of their 

 imagination to increase the interest of what requires no such illustration. A 

 person unacquainted with this Godwit would believe, on reading its history 

 as recorded in books, that the safety of these birds depends on the friendly 

 warning of their long-billed and long-tongued neighbour. And yet it is at 

 no season more noisy or more vigilant than the Kildeer Plover, nor ever half 

 so much so as the Semipalmated species, the reiterated vociferations of which 

 are so annoying. It is true that the Tell-tale is quite loquacious enough; 

 nay, you, reader, and I, may admit that it is a cunning and watchful bird, 

 ever willing to admonish you or me, or any other person whom it may 

 observe advancing towards it with no good intent, that it has all along 

 watched us. But then, when one has observed the habits of this bird for a 

 considerable time, in different situations, and when no other feathered 

 creatures are in sight, he will be convinced that the Tell-tale merely intends 

 by its cries to preserve itself, and not generously to warn others of their 

 danger. So you may safely banish from your mind the apprehension, which 

 the reading of books ma}' have caused, that duck-shooting in the marshes of 

 our Middle Districts, is as hopeless a pursuit as "a wild goose chase." 



The Tell-tale Godwit has a great range in the United States, where, in- 



