On August 13, 1903, a large flight occurred on the Long Island coast and many were killed, but little was heard of them to the southward. The only flight of godwits that is shown on the record of Chatham Beach Hotel for seven years is in August, 1903. No birds were taken on the 13th, when the great flight appeared on Long Island, for at Chatham the weather apparently was fair, with a west wind. One bird, perhaps a straggler from the Long Island flight, was picked up on the 20th after a southeast wind had blown for two days. On the 26th a northeast wind set in, and it blew from the east or northeast for six days. On the 29th seven godwits were killed. During the seven years for which the record was kept godwits were taken only singly or in pairs, with the above exception, and the record shows 42 killed all told. Twenty-four were taken during east, north, or northeast winds; eight in northwest winds; six in southwest winds; two in west winds; and only one in a south wind.
Mr. S. Prescott Fay (1911) reports an unusually heavy flight at Cape Cod from early in August until October 22, 1910, during which 25 birds were shot on 17 different dates. He saw a flock of 10 on August 15, but says:
In most cases they were lone birds and, contrary to their habits, were tame and decoyed readily. However, on September 5, during a heavy easterly storm with a downpour of rain, a flock of 30 to 35 birds went over our stand at Chatham. Instead of alighting, as we supposed they would do, for they appeared very much exhausted, they continued their slow flight and disappeared, going due south in the heaviest part of the storm. However, a man a short way below us shot three of these birds as we watched them go over him high up, and later we found some one else above us had shot one from the same flock only a minute or two earlier. One of these men estimated that the flock contained over 40 birds, so my figures may be too low or else, after he fired, the birds may have separated so that we might have seen only part of the original flock.
Winter.—The winter home of the Hudsonian godwit is in extreme southern South America, from Argentina and Chile south to the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands.
A. H. Holland (1892) says that, in Argentina, it "appears in flocks late in the winter after heavy rains from July to August. They were met with both in summer and winter plumage." Ernest Gibson (1920) reported it as formerly "very abundant, in numerous flocks, some of apparently over 1,000," in the Province of Buenos Aires. He says that—
On more than one of these occasions several birds have dropped to my gun. The flock would then again and again sweep round and hover over the individuals in the water, uttering loud cries of distress, quite regardless of my presence in the open and the renewed gunfire. Though the godwit is such an excellent table bird, I found myself unable to continue the slaughter under these circumstances. I might select my birds, but so closely were they packed together that the shots went practically "into the brown," and caused innumerable cripples.
Conditions have changed since then, for Doctor Wetmore (1926) writes:
Save for a record to be mentioned later, the Hudsonian godwit was first recorded on November 13, 1920, when four, in winter plumage, were found with small sandpipers on the tidal flats near the mouth of the Rio Ajo, below Lavalle, Buenos Aires. Two more were seen here on November 15. The species was not noted again until March 3, 1921, when two were seen along the Laguna del Morte in the outskirts of Guamini, Buenos Aires. Four more were found on March 4, one in brown dress and the others still in winter plumage. On March 5 eight were recorded, one only showing distinct signs of breeding plumage. On the day following three passed swiftly northward over the lake without pausing to alight, while on March 7 eight were seen together and a single bird later, and by a lucky shot I secured one, a male. March 8, 12 that fed in a small bay were so slow in rising that I secured 3. At dusk 12 more came to roost on a mud bar in company with golden plover. Though reported 50 years ago as found in great bands and among the most abundant of shore birds in this region, the small number that I have recorded here are all that were observed in continued field work throughout the winter range of the species. I was fortunate in seeing these, as by chance I found a spot where they tarried in northward migration from some point to the south.
The passing of this fine bird must be a cause for regret among sportsmen and nature lovers alike, to be attributed to the greed of gunners and to the fact that its large size and gregarious habit made it desirable to secure and when opportunity offered easy to kill in large numbers. There is little hope even under the most rigorous protection that the species can regain its former numbers. It would appear that the small number that remain winter mainly in Patagonia, as the species was encountered in any number only when in migration from that region.