Nesting.—In southwestern Saskatchewan, in 1905 and 1906, I became better acquainted with the marbled godwit on its breeding grounds. Along the lower courses of the streams, near the lakes, but sometimes extending for a mile or more back from the lake, are usually found broad, flat, alluvial plains, low enough to be flooded during periods of high water. These plains are more or less moist at all times, are exceedingly level, and are covered with short, thick grass only a few inches high. Such spots are the chosen breeding grounds of the marbled godwit, and, so far as our experience goes, the nests of this species are invariably placed on these grassy plains or meadows.
The godwit makes no attempt at concealment, the eggs being deposited in plain sight in a slight hollow in the short grass. We found, in all, four nests of this species with eggs, had two sets of eggs brought to us by ranchmen, and found two broods of young. The first nest was discovered on May 29, 1905. We had been hunting the shores of a large alkaline lake, where a colony of avocets were breeding on the mud flats near the outlet of a deep, sluggish stream, and it was while following along the banks of this stream, as it wound its devious course down through a series of broad, flat meadows, that I flushed a godwit out of the short grass only a few yards from the stream and about 100 yards from the lake. On investigation I found that she had flown from her nest, merely a slight hollow in the grass lined with dry grass, which had, apparently, been simply trodden down where it grew, without the addition of any new material brought in by the birds. Only two eggs had been laid, so we marked the spot for future reference and retired. On June 5 this nest was photographed, and the four eggs which it then contained were collected.
While driving across a low, wet meadow, toward a reedy lake, on June 8, 1905, and when about 200 yards from the lake, we were surprised to see a marbled godwit flutter out from directly under the horse, which was trotting along at a leisurely pace. We stopped as soon as possible and found that we had driven directly over its nest, which barely escaped destruction, for it lay between the wheel ruts and the horse's footprints, one of which was within a few inches of it. The nest was in every way similar to the first one, the bird having beaten down the short grass to form a slight hollow in which the four handsome eggs had been laid in plain sight.
On June 9, 1906, we visited the locality where the first nest was found, and I enjoyed a most interesting experience with an unusually tame individual of this normally shy species. While walking across the flat meadow near the creek, I happened to see a marbled godwit crouching on her nest beside a pile of horse droppings. She was conspicuous enough in spite of her protective coloration, for the nest was entirely devoid of concealment in the short grass. Though we stood within 10 feet of her, she showed no signs of flying away, which suggested the possibility of photographing her. My camera was half a mile away in our wagon, but I soon returned with it and began operations at a distance of 15 feet, setting up the camera on the tripod and focussing carefully. I moved up cautiously to within 10 feet and took another picture, repeating the performance again within 5 feet. She still sat like a rock, and I made bold to move still closer, spreading the legs of the tripod on either side of her and placing the camera within 3 feet of her; I hardly dared to breathe, moving very slowly as I used the focussing cloth, and changed my plate holders most cautiously; but she never offered to move and showed not the slightest signs of fear, while I exposed all the plates I had with me, photographing her from both sides and placing the lens within 2 feet of her. She sat there patiently, panting in the hot sun, apparently distressed by the heat, perhaps partially dazed by it, and much annoyed by the ants which were constantly crawling into her eyes and half open bill, causing her to wink or shake her head occasionally. I reached down carefully and stroked her on the back, but still she did not stir, and I was finally obliged to lift her off the nest in order to photograph the eggs.
Two nests found by Gerard A. Abbott (1919) in Benson County, North Dakota, were evidently better concealed than the nests we found. He writes:
I was certainly surprised to discover my first godwit's nest with the parent crouching beneath a little screen of woven grass blades on four heavily blotched eggs. Her general contour and the situation and design of the nest was suggestive of many king rails whose nests I have found, after noticing how the grass blades were woven together canopy like to shield the bird and her treasures. About a mile from this nest and screened on one side by willow sprouts sat another tame godwit. This time the grassy hollow held five boldly marked eggs. Incubation was one-half completed and the date was June 8. These five eggs bear a general resemblance to each other and I believe they are all the product of the same bird.
Eggs.—The marbled godwit lays four eggs regularly, very rarely three and still more rarely five. The eggs are ovate or ovate pyriform in shape, with a slight gloss. The ground colors usually run from "pale olive buff" to "deep olive buff," in the greener types from "dark olive buff" to "ecru olive," and in the brownest types to "Isabella color." They are more or less sparingly and irregularly marked with small rounded spots, and with irregular, rarely elongated blotches; these are often thicker at the larger end, but seldom confluent. The markings are usually much more conspicuous than in other godwit's eggs, but they are in dull browns, such as "Saccardo's umber," "warm sepia," and "bister." The underlying spots and blotches range in color from "pallid brownish drab" to "deep brownish drab." Some of the greenish types are only faintly spotted with "light brownish olive." One very handsome egg has a "pale olive buff" ground color, conspicuously splashed and blotched with "pale Quaker drab," overlaid with a few small blotches and scrawls of "Saccardo's umber." The measurements of 64 eggs average 57 by 39.6 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 61 by 40.5, 59.5 by 42.5, 51 by 38.5, and 53.7 by 37.7 millimeters.
Young.—I have no data on the period of incubation and do not know whether both sexes incubate or not. The only incubating bird I collected was a female. Though we looked diligently for the young we did not succeed in finding any until June 27, 1906. We were driving across some extensive wet meadows, ideal breeding grounds for marbled godwits, when we saw a godwit, about a hundred yards ahead of us, leading two of its young across a shallow grassy pool; we drove toward them as fast as we could, but as we drew near the old bird took wing and the young separated, moving off into the grass in opposite directions. They had evidently been well schooled in the art of hiding and were well fitted by their protective coloring to escape notice, for, though we secured one of them readily enough while it was still running, the other disappeared entirely right before our eyes and within 10 yards of us. Its disappearance seemed almost miraculous, for there was practically nothing there to conceal it, as the grass was quite short, and there were no shrubs or herbaceous plants of any kind in the vicinity. We searched the whole locality carefully and thoroughly, but in vain. The youngster may have been crouching flat on the ground, relying on its resemblance to its surroundings, or it may have taken advantage of some slight inequalities in the ground and skulked away farther than we realized. Later in the day we found another pair of godwits, in a similar locality, with two young, one of which we secured. The young were in the downy stage, and apparently not over a week old. They showed unmistakable godwit characters, particularly in the shape of the head and bill, and the long legs and neck.
Plumages.—The downy young marbled godwit is in dull colors. The upper parts, including the posterior half of the crown, back rump, and wings are "bone brown" or "light seal brown," variegated on the back and rump with pale buff or grayish-white. The under parts, including the forehead, sides of the head, and neck, are "pinkish-buff," deepest on the neck and flanks, almost white on the belly and head and pure white on the chin and cheeks. There is a narrow loral stripe, extending not quite to the eye, a spot behind the ear, and a short stripe in the middle of the lower forehead of blackish-brown. The shape of the head and bill is characteristic of the species.