GREAT MARBLED GODWIT. 



31 



in length, a little turned up towards the extremity, where it is 

 black, the base is of a pale purplish flesh color; 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 color, with a tinge of lake. 



The female diflfers 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 enu- 

 merated by naturalists. These are again by some separated 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 those vast marshes, 

 swamps and morasses that frequently prevail in the vicinity of the 

 ocean, and on the borders of large rivers. They are also gene- 

 rally migratory, on account of the periodical freezing of those 

 places in the northern regions where they procure their food. 

 The Godwits are particularly fond of salt marshes ; and are rarely 

 found in countries remote from the sea. 



