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PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 99 
GODWITS. 
These birds rank amongst the rarest and most 
local of the British species of Limicole, so that 
little more than a passing allusion to them is 
necessary in a work of the present character. 
One of them, the Black-tailed Godwit, Lzmosa 
melanura, formerly known as the ‘‘ Yarwhelp” or 
“Barker,” used to breed regularly in some of the 
eastern counties of England, but for nearly fifty 
years now it has not been known to do so. The 
reclamation of its fenland haunts, and the practice 
of netting it during the breeding season, have 
probably been the chief causes of its extirpation. 
A few birds still continue to appear on our coasts, 
especially on the vast mud-flats and salt-marshes 
of East Anglia, during their annual migrations, 
and a few remain to winter. Outside our limits 
it nests in Iceland and the Farées, and in Scandi- 
navia; but its chief breeding-area extends across 
Europe, from Holland to the south of Russia. 
In winter it draws southwards, visiting the 
Mediterranean basin and parts of Africa. The 
Blacktailed Godwit appears on the British coasts 
on passage, during April and May, the return 
journey beginning in August, and lasting for about 
amonth. In its habits it is very like the Curlew, 
picking up its food on the muds and marshes, 
walking deliberately to and fro, wading through 
the shallows, and sometimes standing in the water 
