SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — LIMOSA. 265 



recorded from Cambridgeshire, IsTortlmmberland, and from the vicinity of Solway 

 Firth. Living specimens are occasionally brought from Holland to England ; and 

 the bird, in a semi-domestic state, is not infrequently confined in walled gardens, 

 where it makes a very interesting and amusing pet. Others are fatted for the market 

 with bread and milk, as is also done with the Kuff ; but the Godwit is not equal in 

 flavor to the latter when thus treated. 



The Godwit is found during the summer in Denmark ; and it also visits, in con- 

 siderable niunbers, various parts of Scandinavia, and especially Lapland, going as far 

 north as Iceland, and occasionally to Greenland. In the more southern countries of 

 the European continent it is exclusively seen in spring and autumn. It is quite com- 

 mon in Spain ; and living specimens were sent to the Zoological Garden from Tangier, 

 where it was said to be not uncommon, besides others from Tunis and different local- 

 ities in North Africa. According to Schinz ("•' Fauna Helvetica "), this bird is occa- 

 sionally seen, as a migrant, in Switzerland ; and not infrequently a pair is supposed 

 to remain and nest, as birds are from time to time taken in their summer jjlumage. 

 In May it passes north through Italy and Genoa, and returns, reinforced in niimbers, 

 in the month of August. It is said to be rare in Sicily, but is more common at Malta, 

 during its migrations. Specimens have been taken in Tripoli ; and the Zoological 

 Society received a young bird of the year from Trebizond. Hohenacker, a Eussian 

 naturalist, mentions this species among the birds obtained by him in the vicinity of 

 the Caucasus ; Mr. Hodgson includes it among those found in Nepal, and Mr. Blyth 

 in the list of those occurring at Calcutta. Mr. Temminck also states that it may be 

 found in Japan and on the Isles of Sunda. 



According to M. Gerbe, this species has been observed at different seasons in 

 nearly every portion of Europe, Asia, and Africa. In France it is a regular bird of 

 passage in autumn, and again in spring, passing north in March and April, and mov- 

 ing south in September and October. Many of these birds are snared in the spring, 

 between Douai and Cambrai, and kept within gardens enclosed by walls ; but the 

 greater number of them perish during the winter for want of suitable food. The 

 same author adds that this species nests in damp meadows, in the grass, or among 

 the reeds. Its eggs are four in number, rounded at one end, pyriforni in shape, and 

 quite variable in regard to shades of color. Generally they have a deep olive ground, 

 with points and blotches of a russet, or a pale brown color. Some of these are of a 

 very deep shade, others are very faint. These markings are more numerous, larger, 

 and more confluent about the larger end. M. Gerbe possessed varieties of this egg, 

 some of which had a reddish-white and some a yellowish-white ground ; while in 

 others it was of a very pale green color. Some are profusely sprinkled with spots of 

 an intensely deep coloring, and again others are of a uniformly ashy gray, and 

 are entirely unspotted. He gives their greater diameter as varying from 53 to 61 

 millimetres, and the smaller from 37 to 40. 



According to Hewitson, the Black-tailed Godwit begins to lay its eggs early 

 in May. Its nest is composed of dry grass and other vegetables, and is concealed 

 among the coarse herbage of the swamps and low meadows. The eggs, four in num- 

 ber, he describes as of a light olive brown, blotched and spotted with darker brown, 

 their length 2.17 inches and their breadth 1.50 inches, and in form they are decidedly 

 pear-shaped. 



In addition, we learn from the observations of Dr. L. Taczanowski, of Warsaw, as 



quoted by Dresser, that large numbers of this bird breed in marshy localities on the 



eastern side of the Vistula. In the spring, as soon as the snow disappears, this bird 



arrives in the marshes, and frequents their edges. It begins to breed early in May, 



VOL. I. — 34 



