396 



NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



changing, particularly about the head and fore part of the back, to white. In some speci- 

 mens the inner wing coverts and under tail coverts are barred with liver-brown. 



Form typical. Bill very slightly curved upwards. There is a rudimentary web between 

 the middle and inner toes ; the outer web reaches the first joint of the outer toe. Middle 

 nail of our two female specimens and of one male distinctly notched ; of another male spe- 

 cimen, entire. 



Dimensions. 





Male. 

 Inch. Lin. 



Female. 

 Inch. Lin. 





Male. 

 Inch. Lin. 



Female. 

 Inch. Lin. 



agth, total 



19 







21 







Length of tarsus 



2 



10 



3 



„ excluding bill 



. 15 







10 



6 



,, of middle toe 



. 1 



5 



1 6 



„ of tail 



3 



9 



4 







,, of its nail 







H 



3.t 



,, of wing 



9 







9 



9 



,, of hind toe 



. 



51 



o a 



„ of bill above 



3 



9 



4 



10 



,, of its nail 







U 



I 



,, of bill to rictus 



. 3 



9 



5 













— R. 



[164.] 2. Limosa Hudsonica. (Swains.) Hudsonian Godwit. 



Genus, Limosa, Baiss. 



Redbreasted Godwit. Edwards, pi. 138. 



Hudsonian Godwit. Lath., Syn. Supply i., p. 246. Penn., Arct. Zool-, Suppl., ii., p. 68. 



Scolopax Hudsonica. Lath., bid., ii., p. 720, sp. 20. 



Limosa aegocephala. Bonap., Syn., No. 26o ? 



Che-chish-kae-wainae. Saulteur Indians. 



Ch. Sp. Limosa Hudsonica, rostro levissime recurvo, caudu Irifurcillata nigra: basi et apice albis, axillaribus 



nigris. 

 Sp. Ch. Hudsonian Godwit, bill very slightly recurved ; tail slightly doubly forked, black, with a white base and 



tip ; axillary feathers black. 



A specimen of this bird, brought from Hudson's Bay by Mr. Isham, was 

 figured by Edwards, and another was presented by Mr. Hutchins to Dr. 

 Latham, whose description Pennant has copied. It does not appear to have 

 attracted the attention of recent ornithologists (or has been confounded by them 

 with Limosa melanura)* . It breeds abundantly in the barren grounds near the 

 Arctic Sea, and feeds on insects and shelly molluscse, which it obtains in the 

 small sphagnous lakes. Its manners are similar to those of the Limosa fedoa. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male killed May 23, 1826, at Fort Franklin, lat. 65|° N. 



Colour. — Top of the head liver-brown, with pale edgings ; forehead glossed with yellowish- 

 brown. A spotted whitish eye-stripe. Sides of the head, and the neck above and below, 

 wood-brown with dark streaks. Scapulars, interscapulars, and tertiaries, dark liver-brown, 



* In L. melanura the inner wing covers and the sub-axillary feathers, in every stage of plumage, are white ; but in 

 Hudsonica they are as invariably deep black ; those farthest from the joints being alone slightly margined with 

 white. — Sw. 



