[165.] 1. S c o l o p a x N o v o b o r a c e n s is ., (Wilson.) New York Godwit.
. Genus* Limosa, Briss..:
Red-breasted Snipe,, Penn., Aret. Zool., ii.xp. 464, No. 368. Autumnal plumage.
Brown snipe. Idem, No. 369. Winter.
Red-breasted Snipe (Scolopax Novoboracensis). Wilson, vii., pL 58, f. 1.
Macroramphus griseus. Leach, Cat. Brit,. Mus.
Bécassine ponctuée (Scolopax grisea). , T e mm., ii., p. 679 *.
Totanus Novoboracensis {Redbreasted Snipe). Sab., Frank. .Town., p. 687- Autumnal plumage.
Scolopax. (Macroramphus), grisea. Bo nap., Syn., No. 267.
This bird is well known in the fur countries, and has an extensive breeding
range from the borders of Lake Superior to the Arctic Sea. In the breeding
season, the whole under plumage is buff coloured, approaching to ferruginous,
in which state it has not hitherto been described. Individuals killed on the
Saskatchewan plains had their crops filled with leeches and fragments of cole-
optera. The Scolopax Novoboracensis forms a link between the snipes and
Godwits, having the bill of the former and the feet of the latter.
* M. Temminck introduces this snipe into the list of European birds, on the strength of one individual having
been killed in England, and another in Sweden. The English specimen is represented in the Supplement to Montagu’s
Ornithological Dictionary by a figure, which Temminck terms “ très bonne” but which differs from our bird in
the legs being more slender and longer, the tarsus equalling the bill in length, which is also more slender at its base.
It does not appear to be from actual comparison of specimens, but solely from a correspondence in description, that the
Swedish bird, named by M. Nilson “ Scolopax P a yku lliihas been referred to this species.—R.
L imosa E dw a r d sii. The White Godwit.
Genus, Limosa, Briss.
The White Godwit from Hudson’s Bay (Fedoa Canadensis rostra sursum recurvo). Edwards, pi. 139.
Posterior figure.
We have thought it right to mention in a note, and designate by a specific name, a bird brought from Hudson’s Bay
by Mr. Isham in 1745, and figured by Edwards. It was considered by this author to be the Common Godwit (Limosa
o^ufa, Briss.), changed to white by the coldness of the weather. The Limosa rufa is not known to inhabit America;
and Edwards’s bird differs from the other Godwits described in this work, in the great curvature of its bill. I have
obtained no further information respecting this bird than that which is contained in Edwards’s short description,
which is as follows
“ This bird is of the size of the Redbreasted Godwit (Limosa Hudsonica), and its measures agree pretty nearly
therewith, except the Bill, which is rather longer, and turns upwards towards its point, like that of Avocetta (recurvi-
rostra). The bill is of an orange colour, but black at the point;.it bends gradually upwards, like a scythe, and is
justly represented in the figure. The plumage of this bird is white all over, excepting the tail, the greater quills, and
the small feathers on the ridge of the wing, which are of a dirty or yellowish-white; the covert feathers within side of
the wings are light brown ; the legs are bare above the knees; the outer is joined to the middle toe; the legs, feet,
and claws, are all of a dark brown colour.” In the figure there is a web represented between the bases of the inner
and middle toes, probably through the inadvertence of the engraver, as it is not noticed in the text.—R.
DESCRIPTION
Of a female killed at Great Bear Lake, May 25, 1826.
Colour.—Top of the head, back of the neck, scapulars, tertiaries, and some of the intermediate
coverts, striped and spotted on the margins with ferruginous, that colour forming
transverse bars on the longer scapulars and tertiaries. Wing coverts and secondaries clove-
brown ; the former narrowly edged with white, the latter striped on the .borders and shafts
with the same. Greater quills blackish-brown, shaft of the first one white. Middle and hind
parts of the back white, the rump marked with round spots of blackish-brown, which, on the
fail coverts, change to transverse bars. Tail crossed by nine blackish-brown bars, alternating
with white ones, that are tinged on the central .pair of feathers with ferruginous. Superciliary
stripe, and whole under plumage, buff-orange. Sides of the head minutely spotted
with dark-brown, crowded into a stripe on the lores. Front.of the neck, sides of the breast,
flanks, and tail coverts, marked with scattered round spots of the same, larger, and forming
bars, under the wings. Inner wing coverts barred with white and clove-brown. Bill and
legs wax-yellow; the tip of the former blackish.
Form__Bill straight, compressed at the base, with a rounded ridge ; grooved to near the
tip which is depressed and dilated like the bill of a Snipe, and is minutely pitted, when dry,
with a central furrow in both mandibles; tip of the upper one rather acute, projecting beyond
the lower one, but not bent down. The epidermis of the base of the bill above is transversely
wrinkled. Wings equal to the even tail. The central pair of tail feathers are occasionally
slightly longer than the rest. Middle and outer toes connected to the first joint by a web.
The sexes are alike in plumage ; the dimensions of the females being greater. Specimens
killed towards the end of July, on the shores of Hudson’s Bay, have the posterior part of the
belly and the under tail coverts white ; the latter barred with black. None were seen m the
winter dress described by Temminck. A male, killed on the 26th of July, at Hudson’s Bay,
and consequently after its summer moult, had the upper plumage, breast, and inner wing
coverts, as described above; the belly, vent, thigh feathers, and under tail coverts, white f the
black spots as above. This specimen, when recent, was nine inches and a half long.
Length, total .
Inch.
11
Lin.6
. _j, of tail . 2 6
of wing . 5 8
„ of bill above , 2. 6
Dimensions
Of the female.
Length of bill to rictus
Inch.
. 2 4\
,, of tarsus . <, '2 5|
,, of middle toe . . 0 11
,, of middle nail . 0
Length of hind toe 0 3
M of hind'nail . . 0 2
„ of web •• •• 0 3*
„ of naked thigh . 1 0
— R .