572 Mr. E. A. S. Elliot on the Godwiis. 



forms exist. The school of separatists have surely gone too 

 far in this direction, and we may not have to wait long 

 before a reaction sets in, when the study of ornithology will 

 be simplified in a very appreciable degree. 



This smaller form breeds in summer in Eastern Siberia, 

 and migrates in winter through China and Japan to Australia 

 and New Zealand ; the larger form is found as far south as 

 Ceylon in winter. 



The male in summer varies considerably in the tint of red 

 on the throat and chest, some specimens obtained at the 

 same time being much deeper in colour than others. The 

 brightest bird I ever saw was shot on the Exe and is now in 

 the Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter : in it the throat and 

 breast were quite as bright a chestnut as we find in the 

 brightest of the Bar-tailed species ; but this is exceptional, the 

 usual tint being merely reddish fawn, the feathers as they meet 

 those of the flank becoming tipped with black, reminding 

 one of the characteristic markings of the Hudsonian Godwit. 

 The mantle is barred in strong contrast with black and 

 chestnut. The female, which is always larger and has a 

 proportionately longer bill, is paler in colour, and the strong 

 contrast of black and chestnut on the mantle is not seen to 

 anything like the same extent. The flanks, however, are 

 barred with black and chestnut, as in the male, which is often so 

 barred to the vent. The young may be known by the wing- 

 coverts being heavily edged pale buff, which are always clear 

 smoky ash in the adult, the edging having worn off by the 

 following spring. The tail is black except the basal portion, 

 which is white. The upper tail-coverts, which cover the tail 

 excepting just an inch at the tip, are white, but black for the 

 terminal half, so that the tail appears black to its base ; while, 

 as the bird takes flight, the white patch between the black 

 rump and tail appears very conspicuously. 



The bills of this species, as with all the family, I think, 

 continue to develop for the first twelve months. The bills of 

 the Black-tailed Godwits differ from those of the Bar-tailed in 

 that the tip is slightly flattened to a spatulous shape, which is 

 noticeable both in Old and New World species, resembling 



