158 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The Bar-tailed Godwit is represented on the American continent by a 

 nearly allied but perfectly distinct species, T. fedoa, which may always be 

 distinguished by having the under wing-coverts and axillaries chestnut 

 barred with black, instead of white barred with black. 



The migrations of the Bar-tailed Godwit commence at Gibraltar as early 

 as February, and continue through March and April. Irby gives the latest 

 date at which he has seen it in spring as the 10th of May, and that of its 

 first appearance in autumn as the 21st of September. Although it has to 

 journey much further north to breed than its congener the Black-tailed 

 Godwit, it seems to delay its departure to the last moment, working slowly 

 up from the south so as not to reach its summer-quarters before the snow 

 has melted. A few make their appearance in the British Islands in April, 

 but the majority do not arrive until May. In autumn this bird is seen on 

 the coasts of Holland from August to October ; and the same dates apply 

 to our islands, with the exception that it remains a little longer. 



The habits of the Bar-tailed Godwit in spring differ somewhat from 

 those of autumn. Most of the Godwits which pass our shores on their way 

 to their breeding-grounds are adult birds, and are remarkable for their 

 excessive wariness. Some of the flocks which pass along the coast of 

 Norway are very large, others, which linger on the Scandinavian coast as 

 late as June and July, are smaller, and consist probably of birds of the 

 year, which are not yet mature enough to breed. Both are described as so 

 wary as never to allow themselves to be approached within gunshot. In 

 autumn, on the contrary, the Godwits which visit our shores are nearly all 

 young inexperienced birds on their first journey, and are easily whistled 

 within range and shot. They often migrate in company with smaller 

 Sandpipers, especially with Knots and Dunlins. During its stay on our 

 coasts the Bar-tailed Godwit seeks its food at low tide upon the sand and 

 the mud, which it is constantly probing and scooping with its long slender 

 bill. It walks daintily over the treacherous surface of the ooze, now and 

 then running for a short distance or wading almost up to its belly in the 

 pools which the tide has left. During high tide it seeks pastures where 

 the grass is very short or comparatively dry bare places, where it often 

 takes the opportunity of resting on one leg with its bill under its wing. In 

 searching for food it often works its bill from side to side like an 

 Avocet, or dabbles in the mud and water like a Duck. Shortly after its 



translation which detract so greatly from the value of this important work. What Mid- 

 dendorff does say is that all the upper tail-coverts were barred with blackish brown. This 

 is invariably the ease in both races, and in neither of them is the rump ever barred, the 

 difference between the two being that of greater or less longitudinal striation. Examples 

 of each race vary so much in this respect inter se, that it is impossible to regard them as 

 more than subspecifically distinct. 



