LIMOSIN^. 349 



Winter plumage ; all the upper parts uniform ashy-brown, with 

 the shafts of the feathers of a somewhat deeper tint ; superciliary 

 stripe and rump white ; quills dusky ; the basal part of some 

 of the primaries white ; greater wing-coverts ashy-grey, broadly 

 edged with white ; tail white at the base, the terminal two-thirds 

 black ; the two middle feathers tipped with white ; beneath, the 

 throat, neck, breast, and flanks greyish-white ; the abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts white. 



In summer the head becomes black, the back and scapulars 

 black, edged and tipped with ferruginous, and the lower parts 

 bright ferruginous, the middle of the abdomen alone being white. 



Young birds have the feathers edged with reddish, and the 

 tail tipped with white. 



The Black-tailed Godwit is a common cold weather visitant to 

 Sind and Northern Guzerat ; it occurs also in Central India. I 

 have myself shot it near Mhow, and Mr. Hume obtained it at 

 the Kunkrowli Lake, Oodeypore, tut it is not common there. 

 It does not appear to have been recorded from the Deccan. They 

 are excellent birds for the table at all times, but when fat and in 

 good condition, they are simply delicious. 



Limosa laponica, Lin. 



S75bis. Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 244. 

 THE BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 



. Length, 14'5 to 14'8; expanse, 27'0 to 27'5 ; tail, 27 to 

 3'3 ; wing, 7 '8 to 8'4 ; tarsus, 2 ; bill, 2'8 to 31 ; weight, 81 oz. 



?. Length, 1575 /expanse, 28'0 ; wing, 8'4 ; tail, 3 ; tarsus, 

 2 ; bill, 3'65 ; weight, 9 oz. 



Bill pinkish for about the basal half, rest black or dusky; 

 irides brown ; legs and feet black, in some dusky-plumbeous. 



In the winter plumage there is a broad indistinct white super- 

 ciliary band, and the feathers immediately below the eye are also 

 white ; the chin and throat are pure white ; the forehead, the whole 

 top, back and sides of the head, and neck all round brownish-white, 

 closely streaked with darker brown, the streaks very minute on the 

 sides of the head, somewhat larger on the front of the neck, and 

 darker and stronger on the head and back of the neck, where 

 but little of the white remains visible. The upper back pale 

 earthy-brown, each feather with a narrow dark-brown central 

 shaft-stripe, and mostly margined somewhat paler. 



The breast pale greyish-brown, more or less obscured by the 

 albescent tippings to the feathers, and some of the feathers, with, 

 inconspicuous darker shafts ; the feathers of the central portion 

 of the breast, if raised, will be found to be not merely tipped 

 whitish, but to be also obscurely barred with white ; the abdomen, 

 vent, and lower tail-coverts are pure white, as are also the axil- 

 laries and wing-lining ; the rump is white with a few cuneiform 

 or heart-shaped blackish-brown spots ; upper tail -coverts white, 

 with narrow irregular arrow-head bars ; tail feathers grey-brown, 



