LIMU8A. 121 



winter dress, but in the autumn (September) many individuals arrive 

 in nearly perfect breeding plumage, while others are in mixed plumage, 

 showing numerous light feathers among the dark and cliestnut feathers 

 of the summer dress. 



104. LIMOSA LIMOSA (Linnaeus). 



BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



Scolopax limosa Llxx.EfS, Sy.st. Xat. ed. 10 ( 1758), 1, 147. 



Limosa limosa Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 381; Hand-List 



(1899), 1, 159; Gates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 40; McGregor and 



Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 25. 

 Limosa belgica Blaxford. Faunn Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 254', fig. 59 



(head). 



Luzon [Celestino) ; Xegros {Evereit, Steere Exp.): Samar iWhiiehead). 

 Central and northern Europe to valley of Ob River; in winter Mediterranean 

 countries and northeastern Africa. 



"Adult male in winter plumage. — Above ashy brown, with slightly paler 

 edges to the feathers; lower back and rump blackish brown; upper tail- 

 coverts white, long ones tipped with black; lesser wing-coverts darker 

 brown than back; median coverts dusky brown, lighter brown externally 

 and fringed with white, forming a wing-band ; alula blackish ; primary- 

 coverts blackish, the inner ones broadly tipped with white; primaries 

 blackish, with white shafts, the greater part of the inner webs white, and 

 then subterminally brown, the white extending to the base of the outer web 

 on all but the first primary and increasing in extent on the inner primaries 

 and secondaries, the latter being white with broad, blackish tips, which 

 gradually diminish in size on the inner secondaries; the innermost 

 secondaries brown like the back; tail white at the base, with a broad, 

 l)lack, terminal band, gradually decreasing in size toward the outer 

 feathers, which are edged with white at the tip, the center feathers 

 l>rownish at the tip; head ashy brown, the forehead more hoary; an 

 indistinct whitish eyebrow extending from the base of the nostril to 

 ]>ehind the eye; lores dusky gray; below the eye a whitish spot; sides 

 oi 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 center of the breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, 

 under wing-coverts, and axillars; edge of 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.* 

 {Hume.) Length, 417; culmen, 113; wing, 333; tail, 76; tarsus, 81. 



"Adult female in winter /plumage. — Similar to the male in color, but 

 rather larger. 'Bill livid pink, blackish horny at the tip; feet blackish 

 plumbeous, toes brownish; iris brown.' {Hume.) Length, 444; culmen, 

 137; wing, 316: tail, 76: tarsus, 85. 



"Adult male iu sumtner plumage. — Differs in having the back more or 



