142 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



The nest is cunningly concealed amongst the heath and short 

 herbage, and is very slight, being a mere depression in the ground, 

 lined with a few bits of dry grass or withered leaves. 



The eggs are four in number, placed with their pointed ends 

 inwards. They vary from creamy-white to buff in ground-colour, 

 blotched and spotted with rich dark brown, and with underlying 

 shell-markings of pinkish-brown and grey. The large dark rich 

 blotches are generally on the large end of the egg, and often form 

 a zone. Some eggs have the markings no larger than a large pea, 

 and equally distributed over the entire surface. The underlying 

 markings are large, and partake of the character of blotches as 

 well as spots. The eggs vary in length from 2'05 to 1"82 inch, 

 and in breadth from 1/4 to 1"3 inch. They are not easily 

 confused with those of any other British species. 



THE BAB-TAILED GODWIT. 

 (Totanus rufus.)* 



Plate 42, Figs. 7, 9. 



The Bar-tailed Godwit has never been known to breed in 

 any part of the British Islands, although it has been suspected to 

 do so. It is entirely confined, during the breeding-season, to the 

 the Siberian tundra above the limit of forest-growth, from the 

 Yenisei Valley westwards to Finland and Lapland. 



The nest is very slight, a little dry grass or other herbage placed 

 in a depression in the ground. 



The eggs are four in number. They are pale or dark olive-green 

 in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with darker brown, and 

 with underlying markings of grey. Two eggs, supposed to be 

 those of this bird, from the neighbourhood of Archangel, and 

 taken on the 1st of June, 1880, are very boldly and handsomely 

 blotched with rich brown, and one specimen is streaked with very 

 dark brown on the large end. They vary in length from 2 - 39 to 

 205 inches, and in breadth from 15 to 1"43 inch. It is impos- 

 sible to give any character by which the eggs of this bird may be 

 distinguished from those of the much commoner Black-tailed 

 Godwit, nor are they with certainty to be distinguished from eggs 

 of Buffon's Skua. 



* Limosa lapponica (L.) — Saunders, Manual, p. G07 ; Sharpe, Handb.,111., p. 309. 



