AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 99 



hended in these Notes. The Bar-tailed Godwit 

 breeds in the extreme north-east of Europe ; in the 

 British Islands it is a bird of double passage, 

 appearing on our coasts with more or less regularity 

 and occasionally in very large numbers in April and 

 May, and again in August on its return to its 

 southern winter quarters ; a few linger on our shores 

 throughout the summer, though there is no evidence 

 of their ever having nested in our country ; in winter 

 the Godwit is only exceptionally to be met with 

 at its British halting-places, though more or less of 

 this species may be found in the cold season on 

 the south-west coast of Ireland : a small flock 

 frequented the shores of the Shannon below Kilrush 

 in the very severe Aveather of December 1854. My 

 principal acquaintance with the present species w^as 

 formed durins; several weeks' residence on the coast 

 of Merioneth in August 1851 ; a flock of perhaps 

 fifty or sixty then used to assemble within sight from 

 our windows, on the sand-banks at the mouth of 

 a considerable river, as soon as the tide began to 

 ebb, and with a good telescope it was easy to observe 

 their movements as they ran to and fro probing the 

 soft sand for food, or stood awhile on one leg 

 with heads and necks drawn in close upon their 

 shoulders ; in this flock we did not detect a single 

 individual wdth any trace of the conspicuous red 

 summer plumage of the adults (in which dress many 

 are to be met with on our eastern coasts in May) ; 

 these Godwits were naturally very tame, and on the 

 rare occasions that we found them unattended by 

 other species, would allow us to run down upon 

 them under sail to within half-gunshot range ; but 

 as there were generally two or three Curlews or 



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