LIMOSA. T2t 
winter dress, but in the autumn (September) many individuals arrive 
in nearly perfect breeding plumage, while others are in mixed plumage, 
showing numerous light feathers among the dark and chestnut feathers 
of the summer dress. 
104. LIMOSA LIMOSA (Linnezus). 
BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 
Scolopax limosa LINN2XUS, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 147. 
Limosa limosa SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1896), 24, 381; Hand-List 
(1899), 1, 159; Oares, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 40; McGrecor and 
WokCcESTER, Hand-List (1906), 25. 
Limosa belgica BLANFoRD, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 254, fig. 59 
(head). 
Luzon (Celestino); Negros (Hverett, Steere Hxp.); Samar (Whitehead). 
Central and northern Europe to valley of Ob River; in winter Mediterranean 
countries and northeastern Africa. 
“Adult male in winter plumage.—Above ashy brown, with slightly paler 
edges to the feathers; lower back and rump blackish brown; upper tail- 
coverts white, long ones tipped with black; lesser wing-coverts darker 
brown than back; median coverts dusky brown, lighter brown externally 
and fringed with white, forming a wing-band; alula blackish; primary- 
coverts blackish, the inner ones broadly tipped with white; primaries 
blackish, with white shafts, the greater part of the inner webs white, and 
then subterminally brown, the white extending to the base of the outer web 
on all but the first primary and increasing in extent on the inner primaries 
and secondaries, the latter being white with broad, blackish tips, which 
gradually diminish in size on the inner secondaries; the innermost 
secondaries brown like the back; tail white at the base, with a broad, 
black, terminal band, gradually decreasing in size toward the outer 
feathers, which are edged with white at the tip, the center feathers 
brownish at the tip; head ashy brown, the forehead more hoary; an 
indistinct whitish eyebrow extending from the base of the nostril to 
behind the eye; lores dusky gray; below the eye a whitish spot; sides 
of face, sides of neck, throat, and chest hght ashy brown, a little darker 
on the sides of the body; fore part of cheeks and upper throat white, as 
well as the whole of the center of the breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, 
under wing-coverts, and axillars; edge of wing mottled with dark brown 
bases to the feathers; quill-lining white. ‘Bill pale fleshy, blackish brown 
at the tip; feet olivaceous-green, toes blackish brown; iris brown.’ 
(Hume.) Length, 417; culmen, 112; wing, 223; tail, 76; tarsus, 81. 
“Adult female in winter plumage.—Similar to the male in color, but 
rather larger. ‘Bill livid pink, blackish horny at the tip; feet blackish 
plumbeous, toes brownish; iris brown.’ (Hume.) Length, 444; culmen, 
127; wing, 216; tail, 76; tarsus, 85. : 
“Adult male in summer plumage.—Ditfers in having the back more or 
