CHARADRIID^. 



625 



THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



LiMOSA BELGicA (J. F. Gmeliii). 



This species used to breed in the south of Yorkshire until the 

 opening of the present century, arfd down to 1829 in the fens of 

 Lincohishire and Cambridgeshire, while eggs were taken in Norfolk 

 as recently as 1847. Now, however, the bird is observed only on 

 the spring and autumn migrations and occasionally in winter ; the 

 passage southward beginning in August and the return taking place 

 from April to May. At no season is this Godwit numerous, and 

 north of the Humber it is of irregular occurrence, while it is seldom 

 obtained on the west side, even on the marshes of the Solway. On 

 the east coast of Scotland it is rare to the north of the Firth of Tay, 

 but an example was shot at Loch Spynie in the autumn of 1878, 

 another on Westray, Orkneys, on September 27th 1894, and Tiree, 

 in the Inner Hebrides, is sometimes visited in spring. In Ireland 



3 c 



