BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 147 
Breeds in Eastern Siberia as far north as Taimyr Peninsula and tundras 
at the mouth of Kolyma. Breeds in colonies, and is very noisy. 
Distribution and forms —Throughout northern Europe and Asia, migrating 
southward in winter to Australia. Two subspecies are commonly recognised : 
V. 1. lapponica (Linné) from Europe, and V. 1. bauweri (Naumann) from East Siberia, 
separable by its darker ramp and more heavily barred flanks and generally paler. 
Genus LIMOSA. 
Limosa Brisson, Ornith., Vol. I., p. 48, Vol. V., p. 261, 1760. Type (by tautonymy) : Limosa 
= Scolopax limosa Linné. 
Limicula Vieillot, Anal. nouv. Orn., p. 56, April 14th, 1816. Type (by monotypy): ‘‘ Barge 
Buffon ’’ = Scolopax limosa Linné. 
Gambetta Koch, Syst. baier. Zool., pp. xuit., 307, July 1816. Type (by monotypy): S. limosa 
Linné. 
Fedoa Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. XII., pt. 1, p. 70, 1824. Type (by tautonymy) : 
Scolopax fedoa Linné. 
Not of Forster, Synopt. Cat. Brit. Birds, pp. 20, 56, 1817. 
Actites Billberg, Synops. Faune Scand., Vol. I., pl. 2, Tab. A and p. 153, 1828. Type: 
Scolopax limosa Linné. Cf. Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pts. 2 and 3, p. 41, Oct. 23rd, 1913. 
Not of Illiger, Prodr. Mamm. et Av., p. 263, 1811. 
Large Scolopacine Wading birds with very long straight bills, long wings, very 
long legs, and long toes. 
The culmen is very long and straight but with a faint upward tendency towards 
the tip; the tip is slightly expanded and projects beyond the lower mandible but 
it is not curved down over the latter. A slight vertical compression is noticeable 
towards the tip of the upper mandible. Nostrils are linear and placed near the base 
of the culmen, in a groove which extends the length of the bill until stopped by the 
expanded tip. In the lower mandible a similar groove is observed, quite as distinct 
as that in the upper, while the tip is similarly expanded. The culmen is longer than 
the tail or tarsus. Wings long with first primary longest. Tail rounded or almost 
square, longer than the tarsus but less than half the length of the wing. The legs 
are very long; the exposed portion of the tibia being longer than the middle toe ; 
the metatarsus is very long, being more than one-third the length of the wing and 
more than twice that of the middle toe ; it is regularly scutellated both before and 
behind. The outer and middle toes are connected by a web at the base, but only 
the indication of a web exists between the middle and inner one. Hind-toe 
long. The claw of the middle toe is peculiar, being very long, linear, fragile, and 
strongly pectinate; it is more than one-fourth and almost one-third the length of 
the middle toe. 
102. Limosa limosa.—BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 
[Scolopax limosa Linné, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 147, Jan. Ist, 1758: Europe. Extra-limital.] 
Gould, Vol. VI., pl. 28 (pt. xxxtv.), Sept. Ist, 1846. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 2, pl. 147, May 
2nd, 1913. 
Limosa melanuroides Gould, Birds Austr., pt. xxxtvy. (Vol. VI., pl. 28), Sept. Ist, 1846: Port 
Essington, Northern Territory. 
DisTRIBUTION.—Winter visitor to Australia, breeding in the northern hemisphere. 
Adult male in summer-plumage.—Head and hind-neck cinnamon-rufous, the 
feathers centred with brown, more strongly pronounced on the crown of the head ; 
upper back and scapulars blackish-brown, barred and margined with rufous ; 
marginal upper wing-coverts dark brown, as also the bastard-wing ; some of the 
median coverts blackish with pale margins, greater coverts brown, broadly tipped 
with white ; primary-coverts blackish edged with white at the tips, more broadly 
on the inner ones; primary-quills dark brown on the outer webs and at the tips, 
L2 
