The Marbled Godwit 
they look like benevolent spooks, visitors from No-Country, as they 
alternately gaze upon me with steadfast, benignant eye, or fall to gobbling 
sand-fleas. The Turnstones, their voluntary wards, are first fearful, then 
frantic, as the distance between us lessens, and they fly away presently, 
shrieking that they have been betrayed, while the “good wights” them¬ 
selves only edge away decorously. 
It was a pretty sight to see three Long-billed Curlews, a Hudsonian 
or “Jack” Curlew, and two Marbled Godwits in bathing together. Again 
and again they soused themselves in the shallow pool or stood thigh-deep 
and splashed the water vigorously with their wings. Once the “Jack” 
squatted down and lay, chin-deep, upon the water, and with his back 
nearly awash, as though determined to get a good soaking. One of the 
Godwits “had a bite,” and retiring to a shallow spot stood on one leg and 
kicked the base of his bill vigorously with the free foot at least forty times 
in succession. (Try that, boys!) After elaborate preening and a little 
bug-catching, ashore, the Long-bills said, “Well, boys, we must be going. 
One, two, three!” and rose together. The other birds looked dubious for 
a moment but decided to take a nap instead. 
On the 14th of October, 1911, the day before “Opening Day,” Dr. 
B. F. Alden was showing the birdman the courtesies of the “Empire” 
grounds, in Monterey County, and kindly volunteering the role of photog¬ 
rapher’s assistant. Pond “Ten” had a few ducks on it and something 
which interested us a great deal more, viz., Marbled Godwits, a dozen or 
more of them. The pond was really little more than flooded grass-land, 
and in this the Godwits delighted to stalk, or on the more solid portions 
to squat at rest. I refused several chances at them at decent range on 
account of the green background, which will not “take.” If not pressed 
too hard, the birds, I found, would simply sneak away through the tall 
grass and not fly at all; but if they did fly, instead of breasting the wind 
or rising above the skyline, for a fair mark, they indulged in the repre¬ 
hensible habit of letting go suddenly and whisking down wind quite out 
of range. The bird reserved for this occasion a childish and most ridicu¬ 
lous squawk which by no means relieved the tension of my nerves. 
Tired at last of pursuing these elusive fowls, I turned my attention 
to an alluring little company of Northern Phalaropes playing on the water 
at my feet. I had just released the shutter on a group of these and was 
changing the plateholder, when I caught sight of my companion right in 
the range of my recent efforts, but a long ways off. The good doctor, 
supposing that I was still on the job, had succeeded in outflanking the 
enemy, and judging now that I was fully ready, made a rush at the juiciest 
bunch of Godwits I shall ever see. I shouted and—well, never mind if I 
did. It was enough to make angels weep to see fifteen Godwits rise in a 
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