256 
PRA1C0CIAL GRALLATORES — UMICORE. 
Total length about 18.00 inches ; wing, 9.00 ; tail, 3.50 ; bill, 4.00 to 5.00 ; tarsus, 3 00 inches. 1 
The plumage of this bird in some stages is wonderfully similar to that of Numenius longirostris ; 
in fact the resemblance is so great that were it not for the conspicuous generic differences it 
would be rather difficult to distinguish them specifically. Both have precisely the same tints of 
color, and also a nearly identical distribution of the markings. The main differences appear to be 
the following : In Numenius the black bars of the upper parts are connected by broad stripes along 
the middle of the feathers, while in Limosa these bars are all isolated and narrower, as well as of a 
less deep black. The longitudinal streaks on the head and neck are much less conspicuous in 
Limosa ; in the latter there is also oftener a tendency to transverse bars on the crissum, and less 
often to streaks on the foreneck. 
The Great Marbled Godwit lias been found throughout North America from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic coast, but is not known to occur north of the Selkirk Settle- 
ment, Manitoba, and Hudson’s Bay ; nor has it yet been traced any nearer than this 
to the Arctic Circle, and it is not known to occur in any part of Alaska. By our 
earlier writers it was supposed to be only a bird of transit in the United States ; but 
this is a mistake. It is now known to breed in Northern Ohio, in Wisconsin, Iowa, 
Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebraska, and also not improbably in Texas and the inter- 
vening region. It passes the winter chiefly in the West India Islands, Mexico, Cen- 
tral and South America. 
Mr. Leyland found this species common at the Belize ; Mr. Salvin met with it on 
the Pacific coast of Guatemala, and Mr. Henshaw mentions its appearing in large 
flocks on the Californian coast both in spring and fall. It is also given by Mr. R. 
Browne in his List of the Birds of Vancouver Island ; but it does not appear to have 
been traced farther north on the Pacific coast than that island, and it is not men- 
tioned by Mr. Dali. 
According to Leotaud it visits the Island of Trinidad, arriving there in the month 
of August and remaining until October. It is always found on the borders of the 
sea, and is never present in great numbers. It is included by Dr. Gundlach among 
the birds of Cuba. 
Richardson speaks of this species as abounding in the Fur Country, especially in 
the interior, and mentions it as particularly abundant on the Plains of the Saskatche- 
wan, where it frequents marshy places, walking on the surface of the sphagna, and 
thrusting its bill among them up to the nostrils. The stomachs of those that he 
killed when so engaged were found to be filled with fragments of leeches. The same 
author states that in the United States it is a mere bird of passage, wintering beyond 
our southern limit; but this is an error, as this species — to some extent- — -both 
breeds and winters within our limits. Males of this species killed in the Fur Region 
on the 21st of June had already begun to moult. The plumage of the females at the 
same period appeared much worn, but showed no new feathers. Captain Bla-kiston 
also met with this species on the Saskatchewan, and afterward received specimens 
of it from Hudson’s Bay, in which region Mr. Murray also noticed it occasionally. 
Mr. Dresser mentions that in June he noticed a few of these birds near Brown ville 
and Matamoras, but was able to procure only one specimen. Their occurrence in that 
locality at that period renders it not impossible that a few may breed even in that 
1 A series of ten specimens, including an equal number of males and females, shot by Mr. Franklin 
Benner, in Minnesota, between June 5tli and 20th, was carefully measured, with the following results : 
Males : Total length, 16.50-17.62, average, 17.00; extent, 30.50-31.50, average, 31.10; bill, 3.66-4.00, 
average, 3.84. Females: Total length, 18.12-19.62, average, 19.10 ; extent, 32.00-33.87, average, 32.82 ; 
bill, 4.54-5.06, average, 4.77. (See “Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club,” V. Jan. 1S80, p. 18.) 
