828 



SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLM. 



light orange or reddish, the fenninal third black; feet black. Length 14.50-16.50; extent 

 25.00-28.00; wing 7.50-8.50; tail 3.00-3.50; bill 2.75-3.50; tibia bare 1.00 or more; tarsus 

 2.25-2.55; middle toe and claw 1.30. ? averages larger than $ ; weight 9.00-9.50 oz. ; 

 $ 7.50-8.00 uz. Adult (J 9 , in winter : Specific characters of wings and tail much the same as 

 in summer. General plumage plain dull gray, whitening on the head, neck, and under parts, 

 where more or less shaded with pale huffy gray. Bill flesh-colored w\l\\ blackish end ; feet slaty. 

 Immature and transitional plumages are intermediate between the foregoing. For example: 

 Upper parts dark ash, with black sliaft-lines ; back varied more or less with black patches and 

 wliitish or rufescent markings. Under parts whitish, more or less rufescent, with traces of black 

 barring. Breeds in higli latitudes in northern N. Am. ; migrates through eastern U. S. but 

 apparently not common anywhere; not W. of Rocky Mts. except Alaska; W. Cuba in mi- 

 gration; winters in southern S. Am. Eggs 4, 2.18 X 1-40, very heavy brownish-ohve, witli 

 the usual markings obscure, of still darker brownish shades of the ground color, sometimes 

 nearly whole colored ; they are strikingly different in tone from those of the Marbled Godwit, 

 but probably indistinguishable from those of the European Black-tailed Godwit, L. limosa, of 

 wliich the Hudsonian Godwit is the strict American representative. 



L, limo'sa. (For etym. see the generic name.) European Black-tailed Godwit. Yar- 

 WHELP. Shrieker. Barker. Very like the last ; characters of rump and tail substantially 

 the same, but at once distinguished by the mostly white (not blackish) lining of wings and ax- 

 illaries. In full plumaged birds the tail is black, with broad white bases and narrow white 



Fig. 578. — Willet, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) 



tips of the feathers ; the basal white occupying about a third of the middle pair of feathers, in- 

 creasing in extent on successive ones to two-thirds or more of the lateral pair, and the white 

 tips best marked on the middle pair, very narrow or wanting on the lateral pairs ; longest 

 upper coverts black like most of the tail-feathers, shortest ones white like the bases of the tail- 

 feathers and lower rump; upper rump and lower back blackish. Wings with much white, 

 conspicuous in flight ; lining of wings and axillars white, either pure or varied with some dark 

 markings ; large white bases of inner primaries and outer secondaries ; white tips of the greater 

 coverts. Fore-neck and breast chestnut, shading to white on the chin and belly, barred on the 

 breast and sides with dusky. General plumage of the upper parts rufous and dusky-brown, in 

 streaks and bars. Adults in winter plain gray and white on the body, but wings and tail pre- 

 serving their specific characters. About the size of the Hudsonian Godwit; bill longer, 3.75- 

 5.00. Europe, Asia, Africa ; only North American as occurring casually in Greenland. Scolopax 

 limosa Linn. 1758 and 1766; Limosa li7nosa Briss. 1760: A. 0. U. No. [252]. S. belgica 

 Gm. 1788; L. belgica of authors ; Totanns ccgocephalus Bechst. 1809; L. tcgocepliala of most 

 authors, as of 2d-4th eds. of the Key (but not Scolojjax cegocephala Linn., ■which is the Euro- 

 pean Bar-tailed Godwit, his S. lapponica, the L. lapponica of authors). L. melanura Leisler, 

 1813, and of many authors. 



