226 
SCOLOPACID^.. 
bar- tailed godwit,, and it occasionally appears here very early 
after the breeding season. On the 31st of July_, 1827, I saw 
large flocks; on the 20th of Jnly^ 1816, some appeared; on the 
6th July and two or tliree other days about that time in 1812, 
the call of the species was heard by a shooter to whom it is well 
known ; but the birds probably passed southward, as, until the 
16th of August, when I was informed of the circumstance, the 
call had not been again heard. In August, these birds commonly 
arrive but no matter how early they come, September is the 
month in which they are most numerous, and generally in the 
early part of it. 
The number of godwits varies remarkably in different years, in 
some being very scarce, in others abundant. The first that 1 met 
with, was, when a young shooter, in 1822, in which year large 
flocks appeared on the 7th of September, on the short pasture and 
the sandy beach at Holy wood rabbit-warren, Belfast Bay. Their 
tameness surprised me. Of aU birds that 1 had ever seen, they most 
freely admitted the approach of the fowler, who had only to walk 
directly towards them, and choose his distance from which to fire 
as they were feeding or reposing on the strand. After a number 
were killed from a flock on the ground, the remainder. Though 
taking wing on hearing the report, wmuld sometimes pitch again 
among the dead and wounded before the perpetrator of the deed 
of blood, having again charged his gun, could reach the spot to 
lift them ; when a second voUey would, in addition, lay some of 
the others lov/. The pockets of a shooting-jacket at that time 
usually sufficed to hold the few birds that might fall to my gun ; 
but the number of godwits proved too great for them, and, not- 
withstanding all that could be done in the way of squeezing and 
pressing, the long bills and legs of the poor victims could not be 
concealed, but kept dangling outside, thus serving as an announce- 
* According to notes of their earliest appearance during a few years, made at my 
request by the shooter alluded to (the base of whose house is washed by the sea), they 
were observed as follows ; — in 1838, the earliest were two, which he hided on 
the 10th of September ; none appeared again until the 17th of the same month : 
— in 1840, two, seen on the 4th of August, did not remain, but flew southward ; 
August 15, one, and August 19, nine noticed ; September 12, about sixty were in a 
flock : — in 1841, four were observed on the 12th of August. 
