336 THE HUDSONIAN GODWIT. 



My young friend Thomas MacCulloch, who gave me, in London, 

 several well-mounted specimens of this species, in the spring of 1835, 

 confirmed the assertions of the people of the Magdeleine Islands, and 

 informed me that these birds breed at times on Prince Edward's Island, 

 from which they spread along the coast of Nova Scotia, where they remain 

 until very severe weather conies on, when they suddenly disappear. 



I have tried to give a good figure of the adult, and that made by my son 

 will, I hope, be considered faithful by those who are acquainted with the 

 bird in its autumnal plumage. The adult has been represented as lying 

 down, in order to shew the difference between this species and the Limosa 

 melaniira of Europe, to which it is allied, but from which it may readily 

 be distinguished at all periods by the black colour of the inner wing-coverts. 

 In the European bird these feathers are white, and the species does not occur 

 in the United States, perhaps not in any part of North America. The 

 females are rather larger than the males, but nothing is known respecting 

 the nests or eggs. 



Scolopaxhudsonica, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 720. 



Limosa hddsonica, Hudsonian Godwit, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 396. 



Hudsonian Godwit, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 175. / 



Hudsonian Godwit, Limosa hudsonica, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 426; vol. v. p. 592. 



Male, 15|, 28. Female, 16|, 29. 



Rather rare along the Atlantic Districts in spring and autumn. Breeds in 

 the barren grounds of the Arctic seas in great numbers. Migratory. 



Adult Male. 



Bill double the length of the head, sub-cylindrical, compressed at the base, 

 tapering to an obtuse point, which is a little enlarged, slightly recurved. 

 Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly curved upwards in its whole 

 extent, the ridge convex, the sides with a narrow groove extending almost 

 to the point, the edges rather obtuse, the tip slightly enlarged. Nostrils 

 basal, lateral, near the edges, small, linear, pervious. Lower mandible with 

 the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line slightly recurved, 

 the sides with a narrow groove extending almost to the end, the edges rather 

 blunt, the tip obtuse. 



Head small, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and slender. Body 

 slender. Feet long and slender; tibia bare for about a third, anteriorly 

 scutellate; tarsus long, slender, covered anteriorly and posteriorly with 

 numerous scutella, laterally for a very small space reticulate; toes small, 

 slender, scutellate above, flat beneath, broadly marginate, the anterior 

 connected at the base by webs, of which the outer is much larger; first toe 

 very small, second slightly shorter than fourth, third little longer. Claws 



