LIMOSA ^GOCEPHALA. 169 
Aprils passing in lots of four or five together. I have no 
record of any in November, but saw one on the 24th of Oc- 
tober and one on the 7th of December ; they are not abun- 
dant in spring until the month of March, their passage being 
at its height about the 15th of April. Though I never suc- 
ceeded in finding a nest, I am almost positive they do occa- 
sionally remain to breed, as in the end of May, near the mouth 
of the Guadiarro, I saw a pair which, from their manner, 
certainly were nesting ; but all my efibrts to discover the 
situation were futile. 
234. LiMOSA^GocEPHALA(Linn.). The Black-tailed Godwit. 
Moorish. Tchibib {Favier). Andalucian. Abujeta, Sar- 
seruelo. 
"This Godwit is found on passage near Tangier in abundant 
flocks, migrating to the north during the months of February 
and March ; they are observed returning in August and Sep- 
tember.^^ — Favier. 
Favier also further asserts that this species occasionally 
remains to breed in Morocco — a statement which is extremely 
improbable, and therefore must be received with great 
reserve, though it would not perhaps be more surprising than 
the fact of the Crane [Grus communis) and the Peewit [Va- 
nellus cristatus) nesting so far south as they have been proved 
to do. 
The Black-tailed Godwit appears in Andalucia during 
February, in bands of from four or five to two or three hundred 
in number, frequenting the grassy marshes or rather inundated 
ground about Casa Vieja and the marismas. They are very 
restless, and continually on the move, uttering their loud 
cries. As they are usually rather wary and difficult to get a 
shot at, the best chance of obtaining any is either to be up for 
them, or, in Spanish fashion, to use a stalking-horse. Their 
numbers vary considerably in different years ; and they do not 
seem to stay long in the same district, as some hundreds may 
be noticed one day and hardly any on the next. Their passage 
continues far into the mouth of March, by which time they 
are well advanced in their rufous breeding-plumage ; and this 
