256 CHABADRIIDJE. 



1457. Limosa lapponica. The Bar-tailed God wit. 



Soolopax lapponica & segocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 246 (1766). 

 Limosa rufa, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ed. 2, ii, p. 668 (1820); JBlytk, 



Ibis, 1865, p. 36 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 235 j Seebohm, Charadr. 



p. 384. 

 Limosa lapponica, Hume, Cat. no. 875 bis; Butler, Cat. B. Sind fyc. 



p. 62; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 417, pi.; Murray, Vert. 



Zool. Sind, p. 244 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 349 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. 



xxiv, p. 373. 



Coloration in winter. Upper parts ashy brown, dark-shafted, 

 and the feathers pale-edged, the wing-coverts with whitish borders ; 

 broad indistinct whitish supercilia ; bastard wing, primary-coverts, 

 and primaries blackish brown, secondaries dark brown ; greater 

 secondary-coverts, secondaries, and inner primaries with white 

 margins, inner borders of primaries mottled with white ; lower 

 back and rump white, with a few arrowhead- or heart-shaped brown 

 spots ; upper tail-coverts white, with irregular brown bars ; middle 

 tail-feathers ashy browD towards the end, tipped whitish, barred 

 with white and brown towards the base, outer reetrices barred 

 throughout ; lower parts white except the fore neck and upper 

 breast, which are sullied and marked with brown streaks ; axillaries 

 white, with brown arrowhead spots or bars. 



Young birds in autumn differ from adults in having the back 

 dark brown with buff spots, the tertiaries with marginal buff 

 indentations, the tail barred throughout, and the lower parts 

 isabelline, growing white on the abdomen. They appear to moult 

 i'uto the adult winter plumage about October or November. 



In breeding-plumage the crown is black with rufous edges to 

 the feathers ; hind neck rufous, slightly streaked ; back, scapulars, 

 and tertiaries blackish brown, with rufous spots ; quills and wing- 

 lining as in winter; tail barred white and brown throughout ; 

 lower parts deep dull rufous (dull chestnut), streaked with brown 

 on the sides of the breast. 



Bill black or dusky near the tip, basal half pinkish ; irides 

 brown ; legs and feet black or dusky plumbeous (Hume). 



Length of males 14'5 ; tail 2-5 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 2 bill from 

 gape 3. Females are larger : wing 8'5, bill 3-6 to 4-4. 



Distribution. The Bar-tailed Godwit breeds in Northern Europe 

 and North-western Asia, and migrates in winter to Africa north of 

 the equator and South-western Asia. It is common at that 

 season in Kaniclii Harbour, the only locality in the Indian Empire 

 at which it has been found. In Eastern Asia an allied species or 

 subspecies, L. novce-zealandice, occurs, distinguished by its dusky 

 lower back and rump, of which the feathers are blackish with 

 white edges, and by its longer bill. This bird breeds in Alaska 

 and Eastern Siberia and ranges in winter through China, Japan, 

 and the Malay Archipelago, to Australia, Polynesia, and New 

 Zealand. One specimen was obtained at Singapore by Davison, 

 but none has hitherto been procured in Burma. 



Habits, $c. Very similar to those of L. lelyica ; but the present 

 bird does not collect in as large nocks, and is generally found in 



