BLACK-TAILED GOD WIT. 147 



Breeds in Eastern Siberia as far north as Taimyr Peninsula and tundras 

 at the mouth of Kolyma. Breeds in colonies, and is very noisy. 



Distribution and forms. Throughout northern Europe and Asia, migrating 

 southward in winter to Australia. Two subspecies are commonly recognised : 

 V. I. lapponica (Linne) from Europe, and V. I. baueri (Naumann) from East Siberia, 

 separable by its darker rump and more heavily barred flanks and generally paler. 



Genus LIMOSA. 



Limosa Brisson, Ornith., Vol. I., p. 48, Vol. V., p. 261, 1760. Type (by tautonymy) : Limosa 



= Scolopax limosa Linne. 



Limicula Vieillot, Anal. nouv. Orn., p. 56, April 14th, 1816. Type (by monotypy) : " Barge 



Buff on " = Scolopax limosa Linne. 



Gambetta Koch, Syst. baier. Zool., pp. XLII., 307, July 1816. Type (by monotypy) : S. limosa 



Linne. 



Fedoa Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XII., pt. i., p. 70, 1824. Type (by tautonymy) : 



Scolopax fedoa Linn6. 



Not of Forster, Synopt. Cat. Brit. Birds, pp. 20, 56, 1817. 



Actites Billberg, Synops. Faunse Scand., Vol. I., pi. 2, Tab. A and p. 153, 1828. Type : 



Scolopax limosa Linne. Cf. Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pts. 2 and 3, p. 41, Oct. 23rd, 1913. 



Not of Illiger, Prodr. Mamm. et Av., p. 263, 1811. 



Large Scolopacine Wading birds with very long straight bills, long wings, very 

 long legs, and long toes. 



The culmen is very long and straight but with a faint upward tendency towards 

 the tip ; the tip is slightly expanded and projects beyond the lower mandible but 

 it is not curved down over the latter. A slight vertical compression is noticeable 

 towards the tip of the upper mandible. Nostrils are linear and placed near the base 

 of the culmen, in a groove which extends the length of the bill until stopped by the 

 expanded tip. In the lower mandible a similar groove is observed, quite as distinct 

 as that in the upper, while the tip is similarly expanded. The culmen is longer than 

 the tail or tarsus. Wings long with first primary longest. Tail rounded or almost 

 square, longer than the tarsus but less than half the length of the wing. The legs 

 are very long ; the exposed portion of the tibia being longer than the middle toe ; 

 the metatarsus is very long, being more than one-third the length of the wing and 

 more than twice that of the middle toe ; it is regularly scutellated both before and 

 behind. The outer and middle toes are connected by a web at the base, but only 

 the indication of a web exists between the middle and inner one. Hind-toe 

 long. The claw of the middle toe is peculiar, being very long, linear, fragile, and 

 strongly pectinate ; it is more than one -fourth and almost one-third the length of 

 the middle toe. 



102. Limosa limosa. BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



[Scolopax limosa Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 147, Jan. 1st, 1758 : Europe. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 28 (pt. xxxiv.), Sept. 1st, 1846. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 2, pi. 147, May 

 2nd, 1913. 



Limosa melanuroides Gould, Birds Austr., pt. xxxiv. (Vol. VI., pi. 28), Sept. 1st, 1846 : Port 

 Essington, Northern Territory. 



DISTRIBUTION. Winter visitor to Australia, breeding in the northern hemisphere. 



Adult male in summer-plumage. Head and hind-neck cinnamon-rufous, the 

 feathers centred with brown, more strongly pronounced on the crown of the head ; 

 upper back and scapulars blackish-brown, barred and margined with rufous ; 

 marginal upper wing-coverts dark brown, as also the bastard-wing ; some of the 

 median coverts blackish with pale margins, greater coverts brown, broadly tipped 

 with white ; primary-coverts blackish edged with white at the tips, more broadly 

 .on the inner ones ; primary-quills dark brown on the outer webs and at the tips, 



L 2 



