490 SCOLOPACID^. 



supply good specific distinctions, as shown in the instance of 

 the Green and Wood Sandpipers lately described. The 

 Godwit of the present article may be known at all ages 

 and seasons from the smaller one next in order, by the tail- 

 feathers, the terminal two-thirds of which are invariably 

 black ; while in the following species the tail-feathers are as 

 invariably barred throughout their whole length with black 

 and white. These permanent distinctions have suggested 

 the names now in use. 



The Black-tailed Godwit was accustomed to resort to the 

 marshes of Norfolk and the fens of the Isle of Ely and of 

 Lincolnshire, down to about the year 1829, by which time the 

 drainage of suitable haunts, and the persecution of gunners, 

 netters, and egg-gatherers, had done their work. A few 

 pairs appear to have nested irregularly until a later date, for 

 Mr. E. S. Preston is said to have obtained three eggs which 

 were stated on good evidence to have been taken near Reed- 

 ham, in Norfolk, in 1847 (Stevenson's B. of Norfolk, ii. 

 p. 250). A few birds now linger for a few days in spring 

 about the localities where their predecessors found suitable 

 breeding-grounds, but they pass on, and at the present day 

 the Black-tailed Godwit is only known as a visitor on 

 migration. 



The autumnal passage commences in August, and from 

 that date onwards this species may be observed in small 

 numbers along the flatter portions of the coasts of Great 

 Britain from Shetland to Cornwall, only a few occurrences 

 being recorded in winter. It is also an irregular straggler 

 to inland waters. By April the return passage commences ; 

 and on both migrations the western as well as the eastern 

 shores of England are visited, but this species is never 

 so numerous as its congener the Bar-tailed Godwit. Al- 

 though a tolerably regular visitant to the morasses of the 

 Solway Firth, the Black-tailed Godwit is rare on the w^est 

 coast of Scotland, and its occurrences are only irregular, 

 and generally in autumn, along the east coast. In Ireland 

 its aj)pearance is very rare, and, as a rule, in autumn or 

 early winter; but Mr. E. Warren records (Zool. 1877, 



