scolopacid.t: 



607 



THE BAR-TAILED GODWTT. 



Lim6sa lapponica (Linnreus). 



The Bar-tailed Godwit is a regular visitor to oiir estuaries, sand- 

 banks and mud-flats in spring and autumn ; young buff-breasted 

 birds, which are at first very tame, often beginning to arrive by the 

 latter part of August. Mr. Abel Chapman states that on the coast 

 of Northumberland it may be found " thousands strong, throughout 

 the hardest winters and most protracted frosts," but in Lincoln- 

 shire, Norfolk, and southward to the Channel, observers agree that 

 comparatively few are to be met with in winter ; on the other 

 hand, numbers in the red breeding-plumage occur in the south on 

 the spring migration, especially in Norfolk — where, from the date of 

 their arrival, the 12th of May is called by the Breydon gunners 

 ' Godwit day ' — though the bird is almost unknown to the north of 

 the Humber at that season. In Scotland it occurs on the east coast 

 as late as December, but on the west it appears to be very local, 

 having chiefly been observed in the Sound of Harris, and again on 

 the Solway. It is tolerably common during autumn and winter in 

 Ireland, where, according to Mr. Warren, large flocks begin to arrive 

 on the west coast in March, and increase in numbers up to April, 

 while many birds in the pale plumage of immaturity remain till 

 nearlv the middle of June. 



