Winter 

 plumage 

 and young. 



94 GRALLATORES. LIMOSA. GODWIT. 



formed upon the same model as those of the Totani, the 

 outer toe being joined to the intermediate one by a mem- 

 brane. They inhabit marshes., and the banks and mouths 

 of rivers, where the muddy deposit is deep and soft, and in 

 which, by probing with their long and semiflexible bills, 

 they find worms, and aquatic insects and their larva, upon 

 which they constantly feed. When thus engaged, these 

 birds are frequently seen with the head entirely under wa- 

 ter ; and we accordingly find them amply provided with the 

 peculiar gland, situated immediately above the eye, whose 

 function appears to be that of lubricating and defending this 

 delicate organ from the effects of saline and other waters. 

 They are subject to a double moult, and their nuptial dress 

 is very different from the plumage they wear during the 

 other parts of the year. The females exceed the males much 

 in size, and it has been remarked that they are much later 

 than the other sex in acquiring the change of feather dis- 

 tinctive of the breeding season. They perform the same 

 migratory movements as the rest of the Scolopacida, and 

 their passage takes place at the same periods. 



BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



LIMOSA MELANURA, Leisler. 

 PLATE XXI. FIGS. 1. and 2. 



Limosa melanura, Leisl Nacht. zu. Bechst. Naturg. Deut. Heft 2. 150 



and 157. fig. 21 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. 2. 664 Horsf. in Trans. 



Linn. Soc. 13. 193. 



Limosa ^Egocephala, Flem. Br. Anim. 1. 107. sp. 150. 

 Fedoa melanura, Steph. Shaw's Zool. 12. 73. but not the figure, which 



appears to be that of the Red or Common Godwit. 

 Barge a Queu noir, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. 2. 264. 



Black-tailed Godwit, Shaw's Zool. 15. 73. Flem. Br. Anim. 1. 107- sp. 150. 

 'Scolopax Limosa, Linn. Syst. 1. 245. 12. Gmel Syst. 1. 666 Lath. Ind. 



Orn. 2. 719- 18. 



Fedoa nostra secunda, Ran Syn. 105. A. 5 Witt. 216 Id. (Angl.) 293. 



La Barge ou Barge commun, Buff. Ois. 7. 509. t. 27. 



Lesser Godwit, Penn. Br. Zool. 2. 444. No. 182, male. 



Jadreka Snipe, Lath. Syn. 5. 146 Mont. Orn. Diet. 2. and Sup. with a 



plate Lewin's Br. Birds. 4. pi. 162. 



I 



