522 



SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



It is now a comparatively rare bird of passage ; in some years a few 

 birds are occasionally seen during the spring passage lingering for 

 a few days about the old nesting-places, afterwards passing on to their 

 breeding-grounds in the Baltic countries. 



The bartailed-godwit is with us an abundant bird on migration in 

 spring and autumn, and large numbers remain throughout the winter, 

 more especially on the Northumbrian coast, where it is said to be one 

 of the commonest winter Waders. 1 It also winters in large numbers 

 in the Forth area, and also, though not so plentifully, in the Solway, 2 

 and in Ireland. 3 A few non-breeding birds sometimes stay with us 

 during summer. Some were observed in Cromarty Firth in 1910. 4 



The spring passage of the bartailed-godwit commences in some 

 years in the end of April, but more usually in the first week in May, 

 and affects chiefly the south, south-east, and east coasts. On the 

 east coast the numbers vary considerably in different years. 

 Stevenson says that a cold backward spring delays them, and at 

 the first favourable change they press forward, hardly stopping a 

 night to recruit. " With a south-west wind and light drizzling rain 

 the muds of Breydon and Blakeney are alike gay with their many 

 tinted groups." 5 On the other hand, Mr. A. H. Patterson whose 

 opportunities for observing the movements of birds on the north-east 

 coast of Norfolk are probably unequalled says that " scarcely any 

 are seen should south-west winds be prevalent during the period 

 of migration." He surmises that they then miss our shores, " the bulk 

 of them passing northward on the continental side of the German 

 Ocean." 6 An easterly especially a north-easterly wind brings most 

 godwits to rest at Breydon. The godwits and other Waders come 

 in then by thousands "a-wearied by flying shoulder on." 7 Mr. 

 Patterson mentions, however, one large flight during an easterly gale, 

 consisting of " hundreds of thousands of godwits incessantly coming 



1 Bird-life of the Borders, p. 245. 

 3 The Fowler in Ireland, p. 238. 

 5 Birds of Norfolk, p. 254. 

 7 An East Coast Naturalist, p. 132. 



2 Fauna of Lakeland, pp. 422-5. 



4 B. O. C. Migration Report, 1911, p. 256. 



6 Nature in Eastern Norfolk, p. 237. 



