390 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
luckily happening to hear that there had been an 
unknown bird seen at the poulterer’s shop I made 
some enquiries, and found that a gentleman had 
bought it with some Peewits to eat: having found out 
who the gentleman was, I sent and asked if I might 
be allowed to see it, and he very kindly made mea 
present of the bird, which turned out to be a Black- 
tailed Godwit. This bird, thus rescued from the 
cook, had been shot about the 15th of February in 
the Bridgwater Marsh, and I was told that the man 
who shot it said that there was another bird of the 
same sort in company with it, but that it was too 
wild to get a shot at. It has occurred more fre- 
quently in the neighbouring county of Devon: four 
of these birds were shot at Slapton Lea, in South 
Devon, in August or September, 1864; three of 
them were bought by fishing-tackle makers and 
destroyed, the fourth came for a short time into the 
hands of Mr. Bidgood, the curator of the museum at 
Taunton, where I saw it. 
Although the Blacktailed Godwit may generally 
be considered a spring and autumn visitor,—most 
numerous in the autumn, when both old and young 
are returning from their breeding ground,—it is 
occasionally found in England at other times. Yar- 
rell says it sometimes remains to breed in the 
marshes of Norfolk and Lincolnshire, and my own 
specimen was killed in February, and had very pro- 
bably remained throughout the winter. 
