284 BIRDS OF EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA 



white. Iris reddish brown. Bill black. Legs and feet grey blue. 

 Wing 220-235. Tarsus 84-90. Naked tibia 50-57. Bill 84-9 r (H.). 

 In young black is replaced by brown. 



Breeds. — Holland, Denmark, N. Shores of Mediterranean and 

 Black Seas, proba])ly Algeria and Morocco ; also throughout 

 Africa and C. Asia. Winters India and Africa, as well as in 

 Mediterranean Basin. Of irregular occurrence on passage in 

 British Isles, where it formerly nested. 



LiMOSA. 



Bill long, slightly recurved towards tip; toes webbed 

 at base; frequent coasts or inland marshes; gregarious; 

 eggs 4, pyriform, in depression, dull greenish indistinctly 

 blotched with brown and olivaceous. 



Limosa lapponica lapponica (L.). Bar-tailed Godwit. 

 Fr. Barge rousse ; Ger. Rostrote Uferschnepfe ; Ital. Pittima 

 minore ; Sived. Myrspofv. 



(^ $ summer. Head and hind neck chestnut, streaked brown, 

 back and scapulars dark brown with chestnut streaks ; lower 

 back and rump white, sometimes with few brown marks ; upper 

 tail coverts white with brown bars ; wing coverts and quills with 

 white margins ; tail barred white and brown ; beneath chestnut, 

 under wing coverts and axillaries white barred brown. Iris 

 brown. Bill black, flesh colour at base. Legs and feet black. 

 Wing 210-226. Tarsus 50-57. Bill 76-106. In winter: above 

 dark brown with paler margins ; beneath white, pale buffy brown 

 on foreneck and chest with darker shaft streaks ; in $ and 

 young, tail beneath distinctly barred brown and white ; in $ tail 

 grey brown irregularly barred or marked with white. 



Breeds. — N. Scandinavia, Finland, N. Russia ; also N. Asia. 

 Winters on Atlantic Coasts from Britain south to Senegal, 

 Mediterranean Basin, and in W. Asia and N.E. Africa. 



Limosa limosa limosa (L.). Black-tailed Godwit. 

 Fr. Barge a queue noire ; Ger. Schwarzschwanzige Uferschnepfe ; 

 Ital. Pittima ; Sived. Rodspof 



^ $ summer. Above not unlike "lapponica" but lower back 

 uniform brown, upper tail coverts white and tail black, both without 



