336 
THE HUDSONI AN GODWIT. 
My young friend Thomas MacCulloch, who gave me, in London, 
several well-mounted specimens of this species, in the spring of 1835, 
confirmed the assertions of the people of the Magdeleine Islands, and 
informed me that these birds breed at times on Prince Edward’s Island, 
from which they spread along the coast of Nova Scotia, where they remain 
until very severe weather comes on, when they suddenly disappear. 
I have tried to give a good figure of the adult, and that made by my son 
will, I hope, be considered faithful by those who are acquainted with the 
bird in its autumnal plumage. The adult has been represented as lying 
down, in order to show the difference between this species and the Limosa 
melanura of Europe, to which it is allied, but from which it may readily 
be distinguished at all periods by the black colour of the inner wing-coverts. 
In the European bird these feathers are white, and the species does not 
occur in the United States, perhaps not in any part of North America. 
The females are rather larger than the males, but nothing is known respect- 
ing the nests or eggs. 
Scolopax hudsonica, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 720. 
Limosa hudsonica, Hudsonian Godwit, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii, 
p. 396. 
Hudsonian Godwit, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 175. 
Hudsonian Godwit, Limosa hudsonica , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 426; vol. v. p. 592. 
Male, 15f, 28. Female, 16f, 29. 
Rather rare along the Atlantic Districts in spring and autumn. Breeds 
in the barren grounds of the Arctic seas in great numbers. Migratory. 
Adult Male. 
Bill double the length of the head, sub-cylindrical, compressed at the base, 
tapering to an obtuse point, which is a little enlarged, slightly recurved. 
Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly curved upwards in its whole 
extent, the ridge convex, the sides with a narrow groove extending almost 
to the point, the edges rather obtuse, the tip slightly enlarged. Nostrils 
basal, lateral, near the edges, small, linear, pervious. Lower mandible with 
the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line slightly recurved, 
the sides with a narrow groove extending almost to the end, the edges 
rather blunt, the tip obtuse. 
Head small, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and slender. Body 
slender. Feet long and slender ; tibia bare for about a third, anteriorly 
scutellate ; tarsus long, slender, covered anteriorly and posteriorly with 
numerous scutella, laterally for a very small space reticulate ; toes small, 
slender, scutellate above, flat beneath, broadly marginate, the anterior 
connected at the base by webs, of which the outer is much larger; first toe 
very small, second slightly shorter than fourth, third little longer. Claws 
