30 



GREAT MARBLED GODWIT. 

 SCOLOPAX FEDOA. 

 [Plate LVI.— Fig. 4:.— Female.'] 



JLvcL Zool. p. 465, JVo. 371. — La Barge rousse de Baie de Hudson, Buff. YII, 507. — Peaie's Museum, 



JVo. 4019. 



THIS is another transient visitant of our sea coasts in spring 

 and autumn, to and from its breeding place in the north. Our 

 gunners call it the Straight-billed Curlew^ and sometimes the Red 

 Curlew, It is a shy, cautious, and watchful bird, yet so strongly 

 are they attached to each other, that on wounding one in a flock, 

 the rest are immediately arrested in their flight, making so many 

 circuits over the spot where it lies fluttering and screaming, that 

 the sportsman often makes great destruction among them. Like 

 the Curlew, they may also be 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 asso- 

 ciate. They are found among the salt marshes in May, and for 

 some time in June, and also on their return in October and No- 

 vember; at which last season they are usually fat, and in high es- 

 teem 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 



