358 CHARADRIIDAS 
Nest.—The nest is generally situated in marshes, and 
near water; it consists of a rather shallow hollow, scantily 
lined with dry grasses and other vegetation. The eggs, 
four in number, are pale brownish-green, spotted with 
brown. Before the fens and marshes of some of the eastern 
counties of England were reclaimed, the Black-tailed God- 
wit was known to breed with us. It formerly nested in 
Norfolk, Lincoln, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon, and South 
Yorkshire. In Norfolk, according to Stevenson, it bred 
annually until about 1830, though for many years after- 
wards, odd pairs probably nested in that county. ‘The 
last nest heard of was one containing three eggs, taken at 
Reedham, Norfolk, in 1857. These eggs were sold at 
Stevens’s, March 23, 1858, and two of them are in the 
collection of Professor Newton” (Harting). It bred in the 
other counties named until the beginning of the last century. 
Large numbers were formerly netted for table-use (this 
species being considered a very great delicacy), which 
thinned out the numbers of nesting-birds very considerably. 
Geographical distribution.—The Black-tailed Godwit 
breeds in several countries of Temperate and Northern 
Europe, notably Belgium, Denmark, Holland, North Ger- 
many, Scandinavia, and Russia; also in Iceland. It is 
found breeding in the western section of Temperate and 
Northern Asia, e.g., Siberia. On migration in autumn and 
winter, it visits the sea-board of Europe, Northern Africa, 
and Southern Asia, as far as India and Ceylon. Many 
birds spend the winter about the Mediterranean basin. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—Top of head, and hind- 
neck, reddish brown, with dark brown markings; back 
and scapulars, brownish, mottled with black; wings, chiefly 
brownish, with a noticeable bar of white; primaries, dusky ; 
rump and upper tail-coverts, white ; tail-feathers, blackish, 
with broad white bases and thinly margined with white; 
cheeks, throat, neck, and breast, reddish-brown, the lower 
part of the breast being barred with black; abdomen, 
ereyish-white, with brown bars ; chin and under tail-coverts, 
white. 
Adult female nuptial.—Similar to the male plumage, but 
the reddish-brown shadings are duller. 
