GENUS V. LIMOSA, Briss. GODWIT.
Bill very long, slender, subcylindrical, tapering to an obtuse point, slightly recurved; upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly curved upwards, the ridge convex, the sides with a narrow groove extending almost to the point, the edges rather obtuse, the tip very slightly enlarged; lower mandible with the angle very long and extremely narrow, the sides with a narrow groove extending almost to the end, the edges blunt, the tip obtuse. Nostrils basal, linear, nearer the edge. Head small, oblong; neck rather long, slender; body slender. Feet long and slender; tibia bare for about a third, anteriorly scutellate; tarsus long, slender, scutellate before and behind; toes small, slender, scutellate above; anterior connected by webs at the base, first very small. Claws small, compressed, slightly arched, obtuse. Plumage soft and blended. Wings rather long, narrow, very acute; primaries tapering, the first longest, the inner secondaries elongated. Tail short, even, of twelve narrow rounded feathers.
349. 1. Limosa Fedoa, Linn. Great Marbled Godwit.
Plate CCXXXVIII. Male and Female.
Bill dull flesh-colour at the base, blackish-brown toward the end; feet bluish-grey; head and neck light yellowish-grey, streaked with dusky; the rest of the upper parts spotted and barred with brownish-black and greyish-yellow; alula and primary coverts brownish-black, as are the outer webs of the first three quills, those of the other primaries, and both webs of the secondaries, reddish-ochre, all more or less finely mottled with dusky, and the primaries of that colour towards the end, but with the terminal margins whitish; the inner secondaries barred like the back, as are the tail-feathers; breast, abdomen, and lower surface of wings, light reddish-yellow, the axillar feather of a deeper tint, the sides faintly barred with dusky.
Male, 161/2, 281/2. Female, 201/2.
Passes in spring from Texas along the coast, in immense flocks, to Massachusetts, and apparently across the land, to the Saskatchewan, where it breeds. None seen in Labrador. A few breed in South Carolina, perhaps also in Texas. Not observed in the Western Country. In autumn returns southward beyond the limits of the United States.
Great Marbled Godwit, Scolopax Fedoa, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vii. p. 30.
Limosa Fedoa, Bonap. Syn. p. 328.
Limosa Fedoa, Great Marbled Godwit, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 395.
Great Marbled Godwit, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 173.
Great Marbled Godwit, Limosa Fedoa, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 287; v. v. p. 590.
350. 2. Limosa Hudsonica, Lath. Hudsonian Godwit.