BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 687 



pure and conspicuous ; the tail the same at all seasons ; the 

 breast white, tarred across with rufous brown and dark 

 brown ; the thighs and belly more sparingly barred with 

 dark brown only ; vent and under tail-coverts white ; legs, 

 toes, and claws, brownish black. 



The whole length of a male is sixteen inches ; beak alone 

 three inches and a quarter. 



Young birds of the year are during their first autumn 

 tinged with red on the neck, and may be distinguished 

 throughout their first winter from old birds by their smaller 

 size, and by the ash-brown tint which pervades their neck 

 and the upper part of the breast : the white of the lower 

 part of the breast is also clouded with ash grey. 



In the illustration at the commencement of the account 

 of the Black-tailed Godwit, the figure in the front squatting 

 down represents the male in summer plumage ; the larger 

 figure behind is the female in the more uniform and sombre 

 plumage of winter. 



In the family of the Plovers the males are the largest ; 

 but among the Godwits, Snipes, and Sandpipers, this cha- 

 racter is reversed, and the females are the largest. 



