SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — LIMOSA. 263 



in Newfoundland, but was informed by Mr. MacCullock that it breeds on Prince 

 Edward's Island, from which the pairs spread along the coast of Nova Scotia, and 

 there remain until very severe weather drives them away. 



Mr. MacFarlane found this species breeding in the vicinity of Fort Anderson, on 

 the 9th of June. The nest was on the ground, was composed of a few decayed leaves 

 lying in a small hole scooped in the earth, and contained four eggs. Other nests 

 were found and birds obtained on the Lower Anderson River. They were mere 

 depressions in the ground, lined with withered leaves. 



Examples of this species were also taken at Fort Rae, on Great Slave Lake, by 

 Mr. Kennicott ; at Moose Fort by Mr. I. McKenzie ; on the Anderson Eiver by Mr. 

 B. R. Ross ; on Big Island by Mr. Reid ; and at Fort Kenzie by Bischoff. 



Three of the eggs collected by Mr. MacFarlane are in the Smithsonian Collection. 

 In two of these the ground is of a deep raAV-umber color, or an olivaceous drab. 

 There are no well-defined spots, but the apex of the larger end is deeply stained with 

 a dark burnt-umber color. A few very indistinct spots of a paler shade of this tint 

 are visible over the general surface of the eggs. The other egg has a ground-color of 

 a paler umber-drab, and the markings are quite distinct. These are small irregular 

 blotches, longitudinal in their direction, and of a deep burnt-umber tint. The apex 

 of the larger end is covered by a broad patch, in which all the markings, of a very 

 dark umber, almost black, run into each other. These eggs are pyriform in shape, 

 and measure 2.15 by 1.41, 2.12 by 1.39, and 2.22 by 1.40 inches. 



Limosa eegocephala. 



BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



Scolo'pax limosa, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, 1758, 147 ; ed. 12, 1766, 245. 



Scolopax cegocephala, Linn. S. N. I. 1766, 246, no. 16. 



Limosa ccgocephal a. Leach, Syst. Cat. 1816, 34. — Keys. & Blas. Wirb. Eur. 1840, 74. — Bonap. 



Comp. List, 1838, 52. — Gray. Gen. B. III. 1849, 570; Cat. Brit. B. 1863, 156. — Reinh. 



Ibis, 1861, 11 (Greenland). —RiDGW. Noui. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 546. — CouES, Check List, 



2d ed. 1882, no. 630. 

 Totanus rufus, Beciist. Naturg. IV. 253. 

 Limosa melanurus, Leisi. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg. 1811-1815, 150, 157. — Naum. Vog. Deutschl. 



VIII. 1836, 406, pis. 212, 213. — Maogill. Man. II. 81. 

 Scolopax belgica, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 663. 

 Limosa jadreca, Leach, Syst. Cat. 1816, 32. 

 Limosa islandica, Biiehm, Vog. Deutschl. 1831, 626. 

 Black-tailed Goclwit, Yaerell, Brit. B. ed. 2, II. 634, fig. ; ed. 3, II. 681, fig. ; et AucT. 



Hab. The Palsearctic Eegion ; accidental in Greenland. 



Sp. Char. Adult, in summer : Head, neck, and juguluni, cinnamon, streaked on the first and 

 barred on the last with dusky ; remaining lower parts white, the breast and sides barred with 

 dusky. Back and scapulars mixed black, cinnamon, and grayish ; wing-coverts, brownish giay ; 

 greater coverts widely tip]3ed with Avhite, forming a conspicuous patch ; secondaries partly white ; 

 primaries dusky, the fifth to the seventh wliite at the base, forming a second white patch on the 

 wdng. Eump, longer upper tail-coverts, and most of the tail dusky ; upper tail-coverts (except 

 terminal half of the longer feathers) and base of the tail, immaculate white, this occupying the 

 greater part of the outer rectrices. Axillars and lining of the wing immaculate white. Winter 

 plumage : Wings, tail, rump, etc., as in summer ; head, neck, back, and scapulars dark brownish 

 gray, the head and neck lighter ; jugulum pale gray, without bars ; other lower parts ^\■hite. 

 Young, first plumage : " Head dull brown, the feathers edged with rufous-buff ; an indistinct liglit- 

 buft' line passing from the base of the bill above and beyond the eye ; neck dark buff" ; back earthy 

 brown, with here and there a dark blackish Ijrown feather, all being edged with dull rufous . . . 



