GODWIT. GRALLATORES. LIMOSA. 95 



Scolopax belgica, Gmel. Syst. 1. 663. Lath. Ind. 2. 716. 9. 



Scolopax jEgocephala, Linn. Syst. 1. 246. 16. Gmel. Syst. 1. 667 Lath. 



Ind. Orn. 2. 719. 16. 

 Limosa rufe major, Briss. 5. 284. 6. 

 jEgocephalus Bellonii, Rail Syn. 105. A. 4 Will. 2. 215. Id. (Angl.) 



294. Summer 



Le Grande Barge rousse, Buff. Ois. 7. 505. /plumage. 



Godwit, Lath. Syn. 5. 142. 14. A. 

 Scolopax Hudsonica, Lath Ind. 2. 720. 20. 

 Hudsonian Godwit, Lath, Syn. Sup. 246. 

 Red Godwit, Penn. Br. Zool. 5. No. 181. Lath. Syn. 5. 142. Mont. 



Ornith. Diet. 1., but the synonyms quoted belong to the Bar-tailed 



Godwit. 



THE numerous list of synonyms above quoted is an evi- 

 dent proof of the uncertainty, and consequent confusion, at- 

 tending the history of this species, arising, it would appear, 

 from the earlier ornithologists being quite unacquainted with 

 the peculiar change of plumage to which these, as well as 

 many other birds, are periodically subject; for, if we ana- 

 lyze the various specific names now before us, we shall find 

 that most of them have been given, either when the bird had 

 actually perfected some considerable change, as that from 

 the winter to the spring (or nuptial) dress, or else in the in- 

 termediate state, that is, of progress from one to the other. 

 Of our naturalists, MONTAGU was among the first to discover 

 and fix his attention on this important fact, of such value 

 towards elucidating the history of species, and, by such in- 

 vestigation, succeeded in clearing away many inaccuracies 

 and mistakes which had crept into our native ornithology. 

 With respect to the bird in question, he has, however, fallen 

 into some error in the two first volumes of his Ornithological 

 Dictionary, by confounding the synonyms of the two species; 

 but, in his description and figure of the Jadreka Snipe, in the 

 supplement to the same work, we at once detect Limosa me- 

 lanura (Black-tailed Godwit) ; and in his Red-breasted Snipe, 

 we recognise the summer plumage of the Common Godwit of 

 many authors, the Red or Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa rufa) 

 of this work. 



This species seems to have been hitherto considered as a 



