Fall.—Doctor Nelson (1887) says:
These godwits are among the first of the waders to leave Alaska in fall. The young are flying by the middle of July and before the end of August not one of these birds, young or old, is to be found.
Young birds apparently wander northward and eastward before they start on their southward migration, for they have been taken in August at Wainwright and at Point Barrow in company with young dowitchers and red-backed sandpipers.
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Alaska and eastern Asia south to Australia, New Zealand, and the Samoan Islands.
Breeding range.—The Pacific godwit breeds from northeastern Siberia (Taimyr Peninsula, Marcova, and Nijni Kolymsk); east to western Alaska (Unalaska Island, Hooper Bay, Kotlik, Pastolik, Cape Prince of Wales, Cape Blossom, and Kowak River).
Winter range.—The Malay Archipelago, Samoan and Fiji Islands, New Zealand, and Australia, and probably other islands of Oceanica.
Migration.—The migration route of this species is almost entirely in the Eastern Hemisphere, through the Commander Islands, Japan, China, and the Philippines. They have been observed to arrive in Siberia on May 10 (Bering Island) and May 30 (Nijni Kolymsk) and in Alaska on May 15 (Hooper Bay), May 20 (St. Paul Island), and May 29 (Unalaska). After the breeding season, individuals have been known to wander north to the Colville delta and Point Barrow. The latest date of fall departure noted for Point Barrow is August 18 and for St. Michael September 10.
Casual records.—One specimen obtained at La Paz, Lower California (Belding), and recorded as this species is now regarded as a marbled godwit, and there is one record from the island of Kauai, and several from Laysan, Hawaiian Islands (Bryan). A specimen taken on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on September 16, 1907, is referable to the European form Limosa lapponica lapponica.
Egg dates.—Alaska: 15 records, May 25 to July 9; 8 records, May 29 to June 5.