CHARADRIID.E. 



62- 





mW'^'f 



THE BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 



LiMOSA lapp6nica (Linnreus). 



The Bar-tailed Godwit is a regular visitor to our estuaries, sand- 

 banks and mud-flats in spring and autumn ; young buff"-breasted 

 birds, which are at first very tame, often beginning to arrive in 

 August. Mr. W. Evans informs me that in the Firth of Forth from 

 300 to 500 pass the winter, while Mr. Abel Chapman and Mr. G. 

 Bolam agree that far more resort to the coast of Northumberland ; 

 but in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and southward to the Channel, com- 

 paratively few are then to be met with. On the other hand, 

 numbers in red breeding-plumage visit the south and east coasts 

 on the spring migration, and in Norfolk, from the date of their 

 arrival, the 12th of May used to be called by the Breydon gunners 

 " Godwitday." In Wales and the west of England this species 

 is chiefly seen in autumn and winter ; and the same may be said 

 of that side of Scotland, where, however, flocks of non-breeding 

 birds frequent the Sound of Harris, and also the Solway, in summer. 

 In the Orkneys this Godwit is rare. In Ireland it is tolerably com- 

 mon during autumn, though less plentiful in winter ; but many arrive 

 on the west coast in March, and increase in abundance up to April, 

 while numbers remain till nearly the middle of June. 



