BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 565 



Tlie changes in colour our two Godwits undergo in spring, 

 during the gradual assumption of tlie perfect dress of sum- 

 mer, and the autumnal moult producing again in its turn 

 the plumage of winter — the general similarity in the colours 

 of the two species, and the difference in the size of the two 

 sexes of the same species, the females being considerably 

 larger than the males, led to some confusion in the works of 

 some of the earlier British writers on Birds ; but in seve- 

 ral of the species of the extensive family of the Scolopacida, 

 now under consideration, the tail-feathers alone supply good 

 specific distinctions, as shown in the instance of the Green 

 and Wood Sandpipers lately described. The Godwit of the 

 present article may be known at all ages and seasons from 

 the smaller one that here follows it, by the tail-feathers, the 

 terminal two-thirds of which are invariably black ; while in 

 the next species the tail-feathers are as invariably barred 

 throughout their whole length with black and white. These 

 permanent distinctions have suggested the names now in 

 use. 



The Black-tailed Godwits are most frequently seen in 

 spring and autumn ; the first yearly visiters being adult 

 birds on their way to the breeding grounds in high northern 

 latitudes ; in the autumn more examples are seen than in 

 spring, but these are mostly young birds of the year going 

 for the first time to their southern winter quarters. A few 

 pairs annually resort to the marshes of Norfolk and the fens 

 of Lincolnshire ; but they are rarely permitted to breed un- 

 molested, their large size and peculiar actions being sure to 

 attract the notice both of the sportsman and the egg gatherer. 

 The Rev. Richard Lubbock says, it still breeds occasionally 

 in some of our Norfolk marshes, returning to the same locality 

 I think, year after year, being found in only two or three 

 situations to my knowledge, near Buckenham ferry, and at 

 Thurne Mouth near Oby. 



