95 
SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 
Nest. — A depression in the ground lined with grass and leaves. Eggs: 
usually 4, light olive brown, spotted with various shades of brown. 
The sanderlings are sometimes found on the inland lake shores and 
during migrations are abundant on the coasts, picking along the 
sandy beaches and chasing the retreating waves. 
GENUS LIMOSA. 
General Characters. — Bill long and slender, straight, or slightly inclined 
upwards, whole front and back of tarsus covered with transverse scutellce. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Tail finely barred with cinnamon and dusky .... fedoa, p. 95. 
1'. Tail black, tip and base white.haemastica, p. 95. 
249. Limosa fedoa (Linn.). Marbled Godwit. 
Adults. — Plumage mainly light cinnamon brown, heavily mottled with 
black on upper parts, 
and finely barred with 
blackish on chest, sides, 
and tail; throat streaked 
and chin whitish ; edge 
of wing black. Young: 
similar to adults but 
more ochraceous brown, and breast and sides unmarked. Length: 16.50- 
20.50, wing 8.50-9.00, bill 3.50-5.06. 
Distribution. — Nearly the whole of North America, breeding in Tran¬ 
sition zone from Iowa and Nebraska north to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, 
and British Columbia ; migrating to Guatemala, Trinidad, Yucatan, and 
Cuba. 
Nest. — A slight depression in grassy ground, lined with a little dry 
grass. Eggs: usually 4. 
On the prairies, Colonel Goss says, the marbled godwits are found 
in flocks on moist ground and fresh water marshes. On the sea¬ 
shore they follow the retreating waves, probing the wet sand with 
their long, black-tipped, flesh-colored bills. 
251. Limosa haemastica (Linn.). Hudsonian Godwit. 
Tail black, tipped with white ; upper coverts crossed by a wide white 
band. Adults in summer: back black, spotted with buff; under parts 
light chestnut, barred with dusky ; head and neck speckled and streaked 
with buff and dusky; chin and line over eye whitish. Adults in winter : 
head, neck, and under parts huffy gray; upper parts plain grayish brown. 
Young: similar to winter adults but feathers of back scalloped with 
dusky and buff. Length : 14.00-16.75, wing 8.10-8.60, bill 2.85-3.45. 
Distribution. — Breeding far north, and migrating through the United 
States east of the Rocky Mountains ; south to southern South America. 
Nest. — A depression in the ground lined with a few leaves. Eggs: 
usually 4, deep olive or light brown, spotted with darker brown. 
The Hudsonian godwit has not been taken west of the Rocky 
Mountains. 
Fig. 115. 
