304 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



LIMOSA LIMOSA LIMOSA (Linnaeus) 

 BLACK-TAILED GODWIT 



Contributed by Francis Charles Robert J our (lam 

 HABITS 



The only claim this species has to a place in the North American 

 fauna rests upon its accidental occurrence in Greenland, where it is 

 said to have occurred twice. There is, however, an element of doubt 

 about the records. The first is due to Fabricius, who states in his 

 Fauna Greenlandica that he had seen a single specimen; the next 

 occurrence is said to have taken place near Godthaab, or if Holboll's 

 reference is to the same specimen, at the Kok Islands near Godthaab, 

 and was recorded by Bernhardt, senior, in 1824. The skin was sent 

 to the Museum at Copenhagen, but Dr. J. Bernhardt, junior, was 

 unable to find it there, as he states in the lots 1861, page 11. Winge 

 pertinently suggests that there may have been some confusion with 

 Limosa hae?nastica, of which species several specimens were sent to 

 Copenhagen from Greenland, including one from Godthaab, sent by 

 Holboll. The distance from Iceland to Greenland is not very great, 

 but one would expect stragglers from that direction to arrive on the 

 cast side of Greenland instead of on the west side, where the great 

 majority of accidental visitors are of Nearctic origin. 



Spring. — Fortunately we are now in possession of fairly full and 

 complete descriptions of the courtship activities of this species on the 

 arrival at its breeding grounds in Holland (Huxley and Montague 

 1926). Here it appears during the last days of March; in 1925 the 

 first arrival took place on March 25, but up to March 31 a large pro- 

 portion of the breeding stock had not yet put in an appearance. It is, 

 however, interesting to note that many of the birds were not only on 

 their breeding territories, but were obviously in pairs, although some 

 unmated birds were also present and small flocks of newly arrived 

 birds were also met with. Evidently the males do not migrate in 

 advance of the females in order to " stake out their claims," as is the 

 case with certain other species. 



In the British Isles, where the black-tailed godwit has long ceased 

 to breed, it is now only an irregular passage migrant chiefly from 

 mid April to mid June, in small numbers along the south and south- 

 east coasts. The Iceland breeding birds, however, pass through 

 Ireland on their way north and reach their destination during the 

 latter half of April or early in May in small flocks, but in these 

 northern latitudes the breeding season is naturally later than in 

 Central Europe and the eggs are not laid till late in May. 



Courtship. — This is dealt with by Huxley and Montague (1926) in 

 considerable detail and is divided into seven sections: (1) The cere- 



