496 SCOLOPACID^E. 



Seebohm only observed it once on the Petchora. On the 

 coasts of the Baltic, Northern Germany, Denmark, and Hol- 

 land, it is a regular migrant, but in the latter country and 

 in France, it is less abundant than the preceding species. 

 It visits the Spanish Peninsula, Morocco, and the Canaries, 

 and has been traced down the West African coast as far as 

 the Gambia. It is irregularly distributed in winter along 

 the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, and thence to 

 Northern and North-eastern Africa, the Red Sea and the 

 Somali country. It is also a winter visitor to the Mekran 

 coast and Kurrachee ; and Blyth states (Ibis, 1865, p. 36) 

 that there is an Himalayan example in the Derby Museum of 

 Liverpool, and that Mr. Hodgson obtained it in Nepal ; but 

 it has not as yet been recorded in Southern India or Ceylon. 

 In Siberia Mr. Seebohm obtained a solitary example in about 

 70 35' N. lat. on the Yenesei; and Middendorff found 

 breeding on the marshes of the Taimyr, in 74 N. lat., a bird 

 with a more barred rump which has been distinguished as 

 var. novce-zealandice, G. R. Gray, and as L. uropygialis by- 

 Gould, who, however, in his ' Birds of Great Britain,' stated 

 that he believed it was not separable. This form, of question- 

 able distinctness, extends to Kamtschatka and Bering Island, 

 migrating to Japan, China, the Eastern Archipelago, Australia 

 and New Zealand. 



Details respecting the breeding habits of the Bar-tailed 

 Godwit are scarce. The late Mr. Wolley obtained its eggs 

 at Salmojervi, in Finland, on 29th May, 1858, but no account 

 of his discovery has been published beyond his statement to 

 Hewitson (Eggs Brit. Birds, ii. p. 343), that " this species 

 breeds in marshes, chiefly in the neighbourhood of moun- 

 tains, and gets up so warily from its nest that it is difficult 

 to find it." Two eggs from Rowa, near Kittila in Finland, 

 are figured in the above work ; and others have since been 

 obtained by various collectors. The ground-colour is light 

 olive-green blotched and streaked with brown, and they 

 measure 2-1 by 1'45 in., being similar to but rather smaller 

 than those of the Black- tailed Godwit. 



The food of the Bar-tailed Godwit consists of aquatic 





