GREAT MARBLED GOD WIT. 327 



enticed within shot by imitating their call or whistle, but 

 can seldom be approached without some such manoeuvre. 

 They are much less numerous than the short-billed curlews, 

 with whom, however, they not unfrequently associate. They 

 are found among the salt marshes in May, and for some time 

 in June, and also on their return in October and November ; 

 at which last season they are usually fat, and in high esteem 

 for the table. 



The female of this bird having been described by several 

 writers as a distinct species from the male, it has been thought 

 proper to figure the former; the chief difference consists in 

 the undulating bars of black with which the breast of the 

 male is marked, and which are wanting in the female. 



The male of the great marbled godwit is nineteen inches 

 long, and thirty-four inches in extent ; the bill is nearly six 

 inches in length, a little turned up towards the extremity, 

 where it is black, the base is of a pale purplish flesh colour ; 

 chin and upper part of the throat, whitish ; head and neck, 

 mottled with dusky brown and black on a ferruginous ground ; 

 breast, barred with wavy lines of black ; back and scapulars, 

 black, marbled with pale brown ; rump and tail-coverts, of a 

 very light brown, barred with dark brown ; tail, even, except 

 the two middle feathers, which are a little the longest ; wings, 

 pale ferruginous, elegantly marbled with dark brown, the four 

 first primaries black on the outer edge ; whole lining and 

 lower parts of the wings, bright ferruginous ; belly and vent, 

 light rust colour, with a tinge of lake. 



The female differs in wanting the bars of black on the 

 breast. The bill does not acquire its full length before the 

 third year. 



About fifty different species of the scolopax genus are 

 enumerated by naturalists. These are again by some sepa- 

 rated into three classes or sub-genera : viz., the straight-billed, 

 or snipes ; those with bills bent downwards, or the curlews ; 

 and those whose bills are slightly turned upwards, or godwits. 

 The whole are a shy, timid, and solitary tribe, frequenting 



