THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT 79 



conclude that the species will never nest with us 

 again. This species furnishes another instance 

 confirming the fact that the supply of our 

 indigenous birds is not unlimited, and that if we 

 unduly persecute them the time is sure to come 

 when they will vanish from our avifauna. It is 

 the breeding birds that should be jealously guarded; 

 the winter visitors are not only better able to take 

 care of themselves, but as a rule are much more 

 numerous. So long as these individuals are not 

 molested at their breeding-grounds in the Faroes, 

 Iceland, and Scandinavia, Black-tailed Godwits 

 will continue to visit us on passage. These may be 

 met with locally on most of our coast-line, but are 

 commonest on the mudflats of the east and south. 

 Outside our limits the Black-tailed Godwit, in 

 addition to the localities already given, breeds in 

 Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Northern 

 Germany, and Central and Southern Russia. 

 Eastwards it is met with as a breeding species in 

 Western Turkestan, and South-west Siberia as far 

 as the valley of the Obb. In winter it is found on 

 the Spanish coasts, throughout the basin of the 

 Mediterranean, the coasts of the Red Sea, the 

 basin of the Caspian, the shores of the Persian 

 Gulf, and North-western India. In Asia, from the 



