6lO BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



The Black-tailed Godwit has been known to nest in the Freroes, 

 and does so annually in the south-east of Iceland, where it is known 

 by the name oi jadrakan or 'earth-raker.' On the Continent it 

 breeds sparsely as far north as lat. 64°-65° in Scandinavia and 

 Russia, plentifully in Poland, sparingly again in Silesia, and — where 

 the localities are suitable — in Northern Germany, Denmark, Holland 

 and Belgium ; but elsewhere it is chiefly known on migration, in the 

 course of w-hich it occurs in the Canaries and INIadeira, its winter- 

 quarters commencing in the basin of the Mediterranean and extend- 

 ing to Abyssinia. In Asia it is found in Western Siberia south of 

 lat. 60" as far as the valley of the Ob, and through Turkestan to 

 the Altai, ranging down to Ceylon in winter ; while east of the 

 Lena a larger form — distinguished by separatists as Z. inelanurouies 

 — inhabits Eastern Siberia and Kamschatka in summer, passing 

 through Japan and China to Australia and Polynesia during the 

 colder months. The reported occurrence of the Black-tailed Godwit 

 in Greenland is open to question, and in North America its repre- 

 sentative is Z. hudsofiica, which is smaller and has dark brown 

 instead of white axillaries. 



The nest is a slightly-lined hollow among coarse herbage; the 

 eggs, 4 in number, are pear-shaped, and of a pale olive colour with 

 brown spots: average measurements 2*2 by i"5 in. The only note 

 which I heard on the breeding-grounds in Holland was a peculiar 

 yelp, but one syllabled as griitto is said to be uttered. The food 

 consists of insects and their larVcTe, worms «S:c. 



The adult male in summer (figured in the foreground) has the 

 head, neck and breast reddish-fawn colour, with dark markings on 

 the crown and blackish bars on the lower breast ; mantle brown, 

 mottled with black ; wing-bar conspicuously white ; rump white ; 

 tail-feathers black — e.xcept their bases, which are white ; belly 

 whitish, barred with dark brown. Length 16 in. ; wing 9 in. 

 The female is decidedly larger, though there is great individual 

 variation ; her tints are duller. In winter the general colour is 

 ash-brown above and greyish-ash below, the vent being white. The 

 young are similar, but early in autumn they are tinged with rufous 

 on the neck. 



The specific name belgica is based upon a full description, with an 

 excellent coloured plate, in Nozeman's ' Nederlandsche Vogelen ' ; 

 while the term cegoccphala^ which has often been employed, was 

 originally bestowed on the preceding species. 



