GODWITS, SANDPIPERS, AND PLOVERS 397 



characters. For while in colour these birds now assume 

 an ash-blue shade almost identical with that of the 

 adults, their plumage yet differs in this particular- — 

 that, instead of being uniform, each feather is shaded 

 lighter on the outer edge. This phase, moreover, con- 

 tinues to exhibit, although subdued and in the altered 

 hue — grey, vice brown — the speckled features of the 

 earlier dress. This intermediate stage — the shaded or 

 marbled plumage of the young in their first winter — thus 

 resembles that of adults in colour: while, in pattern, 

 retaining some approach to the speckled features that 

 characterise the young in first dress. 



This intermediate stage of shaded or marbled ash-grey 

 is retained by the young godwits for a whole year — until 

 the following October. These immature birds do not 

 breed or acquire breeding-dress : though in some, accord- 

 ing to the "blood-condition" of the individual, the breast 

 feathers, scapulars and tertials may assume a ruddier tinge 

 in spring. 



The fourth stage is the rich red breeding-plumage, 

 with strongly-barred tail. This phase, however, is rarely 

 seen on the north-east coast — seldom or never in spring. 



These somewhat obscure and complex variations of 

 plumage, both as regards season and age (together with 

 the disparity in size between the sexes), have long per- 

 plexed ornithologists and still, it appears, cause needless 

 doubt and uncertainty. 



Turning next to the seasonal distribution of these 

 godwits on our coast, it will be seen that this has proved 

 a scarcely less serious stumbling-block than has their 

 plumage. 



Regarded generally as a British bird, the bar-tailed 

 godwit must be described as a spring-and-autumn migrant 



