198 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family CHARADKinXE. Genus LIMOSA. 



Subfamily 



BAR=TA1LED QODWIT. 



LIMOSA KUFA (Linnaus). 

 PLATE XXVI. 



Scolopax lapponica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 246 (1766). 



Limosa rufa, Briss ; Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 260 (1852) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Non- 



indig. Brit. B. p. 256 (1894). 

 Limosa lapponica (Linn.), Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 203, pi. 573, fig. 1 pi. 574, fig. 2 



(1872) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 494 (1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xxii. 



(1892) ; Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 309 (1896) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 



xxiv. p. 373 (1896). 

 Totanus rufus (Briss.), Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 156 (1885) ; Seebohrn, Col. Fig. 



Eggs Brit. B. p. 142, pi. 42 (1896). 



Geographical distribution. British : The Bar-tailed Godwit is a well- 

 kiiown visitor on spring and autumn migration, most numerous during the vernal 

 flights on the coasts of the eastern counties of England south of the Humber. It 

 is most abundant and widely distributed in autumn, and commonest on the 

 eastern coast line. It passes the Orkneys and Shetlands, the Outer Hebrides, 

 and the Channel Islands on migration ; but is commonest in Ireland during 

 autumn and winter, especially on the west coast. By far the greater number of 

 birds that visit us in autumn pass south, but a few remain to winter on our coasts, 

 especially in the east of England ; upon the sole authority of Mr. Abel Chapman 

 they are said to occur in thousands even during the hardest winters on the coasts 

 of Northumberland, which is contrary to my own experience on the Lincolnshire 

 coast, as well as to that of most other competent observers. Perhaps some other 

 species has been mistaken for them. Foreign: Northern and western Paloearctic 

 region in summer; small part of Oriental region in winter. It breeds on the 

 tundras above the limits of forest growth from Lapland in the west across 

 Northern Europe and Siberia, probably as far east as the valley of the Yenisei. 

 It is an accidental wanderer to the Faroes, and passes the western coasts of 

 Europe on migration to winter in the basin of the Mediterranean, principally in 

 Northern Africa, and occasionally straying to the Canaries. Gambia on the west, 

 and the Somali Country on the east appear to be the southern limits. The birds 

 breeding in West Siberia appear to migrate down the valleys of the Tobol and 



