176 



British Birds. 



The Bar-tailed Godwit is told at all ages by the distinct bands on the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail. The female never has quite as much rufous colour on the breast as 

 the male. The species is only known as a migrant in Great Britain, and it breeds in 

 the marshes of Northern Europe from Finland to the Yenesei River, in Siberia. 

 On their way north in spring, the birds feed on the mud-flats of our tidal harbours, 

 and when the sea covers the latter, they retire inland to rest. In the autumn 

 they come in small flocks and frequent the mud-flats before going south. The 

 nest is merely a depression m the moss with a few dry leaves for a lining, and 

 the eggs are four in number, olive or olive-brown in colour, sparsely marked 

 with light brown and purplish grey spots and blotches. Their length is from 

 two to two-and-a-quarter inches. 



Thu Black-tailed Godwit. 



The Bar-tailed Godwit. 



THE 



BLACK-TAILED 



GODWIT. 



{Lwiosn liviosa.) 



This Godwit is easily to be told from the foregoing species 

 by the black terminal band on the tail. The rufous colour on the 

 under surface is not so universally distributed as in the Bar-tailed 

 Godwit, especially in the female. The Black-tailed Godwit used 

 formerly to breed in the fen-lands of the eastern counties of 

 England, but is now only a visitor on migration. It nests still in Central Europe, 

 and is to be found in the breeding-season in Holland and the countries of the Baltic 

 Sea. In habits it resembles the foregoing species, and the nest is a depression 

 in the moss, the eggs being four in number, and resembling those of the Bar- 

 tailed Godwit, but they are occasionally darker than those of the latter species ; 

 their length is from two to two-and-a-half inches. 



