43. limosa. 385 



broad blackish tip, which gradually diminishes in size on the inner 

 secondaries ; the innermost secondaries brown like the back ; tail 

 white at the base, with a broad black terminal band, gradually 

 decreasing in size towards the outer feathers, which are edged with 

 white at the tip, the centro feathers brownish at the tip ; head ashy 

 brown, tho forehead more hoary ; an indistinct whitish eyebrow ex- 

 tending from the base of the nostril to behind the eye ; lores dusky 

 grey ; below the eye a whitish spot ; sides of face, sides of neck, 

 throat, and chest light ashy brown, a little darker on the sides of 

 the body ; fore part of cheeks and upper throat white, as well as 

 the whole of the centre of the breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, 

 under wing-coverts, and axillaries ; the edge of the wing mottled 

 with dark brown bases to the feathers ; quill-lining white : " bill 

 pale fleshy, blackish brown at the tip ; feet olivaceous green, toes 

 blackish brown ; iris brown " (A. 0. Hume), Total length 16 - 5 

 inches, culmen 4'4, wing 8*8, tail 3, tarsus 3*2. 



Adult female in whiter -plumage. Similar to the male in colour, 

 but rather larger : " bill livid pink, blackish horny at the tip ; feet 

 blackish plumbeous, toes brownish ; iris brown " (A. 0. Hume). 

 Total length 17"5 inches, culmen 5, wing S - 5, tail 3, tarsus 3 - 35. 



Adult male in summer plumage. Differs in having the back more 

 or less mottled with rufous and black, the crown of the head rufous 

 with short broad streaks of black, the sides of tho face and entire 

 neck all round rufous, the fore-neck and breast overshaded with 

 rufous and barred with dusky blackish, these bars also developed 

 on the abdomen and on the sides of the body. 



Adult female in summer plumage. Similar to the male, but with 

 less rufous, and distinguished by the larger size. 



Young. Distinguished from the adults by being darker brown 

 above, with broad sandy-rufous edges to the feathers of the upper 

 surface, the innermost secondaries banded with blackish brown and 

 sandy rufous ; the head rufous, streaked with dark brown, but in- 

 distinctly ; sides of face buffy white, with very fine streaks of 

 brown ; throat white ; lower throat, sides of neck, and chest reddish 

 buff, slightly mottled with dusky bases to the feathers of the side 

 of the breast ; remainder of under surface white, suffused with 

 rufescent buff, and shaded with ashy brown on the sides of the 

 body. 



It is evident from the moulting specimens in tho collection that 

 the black markings arc acquired first, and that the rufous colour 

 overspreads the plumage afterwards. Great variation in the amount 

 of the nuptial decoration is seen in the series, and sometimes very 

 old individuals have the abdomen, and even the under tail-coverts, 

 barred. 



The Eastern specimens of the Black-tailed Godwit are generally 

 smaller than those from Western localities, but so many examples 

 are met with which are impossible to distinguish, that I have not 

 found it necessary to recognize L. melanuroides as a race. 



Jl<d). Central and Northern Europe, not extending beyond the 



vol. xsjv. 2 c 



