GOD WITS 203 



Godwits (" Letters to Young Shooters," 3rd series, 

 p. 388). Not only is this very unlikely, having 

 regard to Mr. Chapman's long experience as a wild- 

 fowl shooter, and his intimate acquaintance with 

 shore birds, but his observation has been confirmed 

 by Mr. Cordeaux {Field, Feb. 20, 1897). 



In summer this bird has the dorsal plumage 

 beautifully variegated with black and brown and 

 the under parts bright bay ; in the winter the back 

 is nearly uniformly grey and the under parts white. 

 The young birds of the year have bufi' breasts, and, 

 generally speaking, a plumage intermediate in colour 

 between that of the summer and winter plumage 

 of the adults. I have shot scores of them in all 

 phases of plumage in the Sussex harbours and on the 

 coasts of Essex and Norfolk, several of which are pre- 

 served in my collection of wading birds in the British 

 Museum. The females are larger than the males. 



The length of bill varies according to age and 

 sex. The weight also varies from 10 to 12 oz. 



BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. Limosa iegocephala (Lin- 

 naeus). PI. 23, figs, 1, 2. Length 17 in. ; bill, 4-5 in. ; 

 wing, 8-5 in.; tarsus, 3 in. ; bare part of tibia, 1*75 in. 



A spring and autumn migrant. Extremely rare 

 in Scotland, and in Ireland an occasional visitant in 

 autumn. Formerly nested annually in the fens of 

 Norfolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Lincoln. It 

 had ceased to breed in Lincolnshire in Montagu's 

 time (1813), and according to Stevenson became 

 extinct as a breeding species in Norfolk some time 



