182 BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



olive brown colour, faintly blotted with spots of a darker 

 shade. 



As soon as the young are able to flutter about, the old 

 ones leave them to themselves. 



Male; weight, about twelve ounces; length, one foot four 

 inches, to one foot four and a half; bill, fine orange at the 

 base, in winter pale yellowish brown, the tip black it is bent 

 a little upwards, and is three inches and a quarter long; 

 from it to the eye is a dark streak, the effect of some small 

 black spots on feathers of a reddish brown. Iris, dusky; 

 over it is a white patch; forehead, pale reddish white; head 

 on the sides, pale reddish brown; on the crown, reddish 

 brown streaked with black; neck, pale reddish brown. Chin, 

 reddish white; throat and breast above, pale reddish brown, 

 in winter paler, transversely barred with brownish black; 

 below white, barred at distant intervals with pale reddish 

 brown and blackish brown. Back, almost black, each feather 

 margined and barred with orange reddish brown tinted with 

 purple; in winter it is pale brown, the feathers darker along 

 the centres. 



The wings have the first quill feather the longest; greater 

 and lesser wing coverts, deep brown, the edges paler, deeply 

 margined with white, shewing at the tips, forming a bar 

 crossing the wing; primaries, blackish brown on the outer 

 webs and tips, shading nearly to white on the inner, the 

 shafts strong, broad, and yellowish white, with some white 

 also at the base o^ all except the second, forming a bar across 

 the wing; tertiaries, long, and clear brown, darker along the 

 centres, and sometimes more or less variegated with orange 

 red, the edges being lighter-coloured. The tail, which is 

 slightly forked, is black, the bases of the feathers for one 

 third of their length white, increasing gradually on each from 

 the centre ones to the outside, where the black scarcely 

 covers more than half an inch of the end; upper tail coverts, 

 white; under tail coverts, white. The legs, which are bare 

 of feathers for a considerable space above the knee, are, as 

 the toes, blackish grey; claws, black. 



The young, before the first moult, have the streak over 

 the eye white; crown of the head, blackish brown, each feather 

 margined with pale reddish brown; neck,, greyish ash-colour, 

 tinged with reddish brown; chin, white; breast above, greyish 

 ash-colour, tinged with reddish brown; below it is white, 

 clouded with greyish ash-colour; back, brownish black, each 



