CHAPTER XXXII 



OBSERVATIONS ON GODWITS, SANDPIPERS, 

 PLOVERS, AND OTHER WADERS 



Godwits.- — This genus contains but two British members : 

 yet it would be difficult to find another as to whose species, 

 plumage, and seasonal distribution such grave errors and 

 misconceptions have prevailed until quite a recent date — if 

 we may, even now, assume that these two birds are fully 

 understood, except by a select half-dozen. 



Earlier works on ornithology only made confusion 

 worse confounded : for instance, the letterpress appended 

 to Bewick's inimitable woodcuts is utterly wrong, both 

 specifically and generically. The descriptions of Morris 

 describe nothing ; while Montagu merely illustrates the 

 darkness of his era, and it is difficult to-day to reconcile 

 the views of some of the latest authorities with actual 

 experience on the north-east coast. 



There are, as stated, but two species of godwits — the 

 common, or "bar-tailed" godwit, and the black-tailed. 

 The latter may promptly be dismissed from further con- 

 sideration, as unknown on this coast, save only as a 

 scarce accidental straggler on migration — usually in 

 September. The black-tailed godwit is essentially a 

 lover of fresh water, and in former days bred in British 



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