166 BRITISH BIRDS. 



walking in the meadows on the banks of the rivers, frequently in grass so 

 long as almost to conceal it. It is fond of wading, which its long legs, 

 longer than those o the Bar-tailed Godwit, enal^le it to do with ease ; hut 

 it does not swim or dive, except when wounded. Its flight is powerful, with 

 outstretched neck and legs, but with the bill slightly pointing downwards. 

 The adult male Black-tailed Godwit in breeding-plumage, like the Bar- 

 tailed Godwit, has the general colour of the upper parts dark brown ; but 

 the chestnut spots on the crown, mantle, scapulars, and innermost secon- 

 daries have a tendency to develop into bars and shade into chestnut on 

 the back of the neck and sides of the head ; the wings differ from those of 

 the Bar-tailed Godwit in having a white bar across them (which is very 

 conspicuous during flight) , formed by the white tips of the longest wing- 

 coverts and the white bases of the secondaries and innermost primaries. 

 But the most important difference between the two species is to be found 

 in the colour of the lower back and upper rump, which is dark brown, con- 

 trasting with the pure white lower rump and shortest upper tail-coverts, 

 which contrast still more with the black longest upper tail-coverts and tail, 

 the feathers of which, especially the outer ones_, have concealed white bases. 

 The underparts also present considerable differences : the chin is almost 

 white, the chestnut is confined to the neck and breast, which gradually 

 shades into white on the centre of the belly; the breast and flanks are 

 barred with dark brown, but the axillaries and under wing-coverts are pure 

 white. Bill dark brown, orange at the base ; legs, feet, and claws black ; 

 irides hazel. As in the Bar- tailed Godwit, the female is much less brilliant 

 than the male, many of the feathers, both of the upper and under parts 

 being scarcely different from those of winter plumage. After the autumn 

 moult the general colour of both the upper and under parts resembles that 

 of the Bar-tailed Godwit ; but the dark shaft-streaks of the feathers are 

 absent. The wings, wing- coverts, lower back, upper tail-coverts, and tail 

 of the Black-tailed Godwit in winter resemble those of summer, and are 

 points which serve at all ages and in all seasons to distinguish this species 

 fi'om the Bar-tailed Godwit. Young in first plumage differ from adults in 

 winter plumage in having the feathers of the head, neck, breast, and flanks 

 sufi'used with buff, and those of the mantle, scapulars, and innermost secon- 

 daries broadly edged with buff. Birds of the year appear to diff'er from 

 adults in winter plumage in having dark shaft-lines to the feathers of the 

 upper parts, and dark transverse bars across many of the feathers of the 

 underparts. Young in down are dull yellow, mottled with black on the 

 upper parts. 



