244 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



There is an extraordinary range in the colouration of this 

 species. There are three distinct stages. The young in first 

 plumage are speckled brown and buff. Adults are chestnut- 

 red in summer ; ash-blue in winter. The two first-named 

 stages have the barred tail, Between these three extremes 

 there is an infinity of intermediate grades the more so as 

 God wits take two years to acquire their full adult dress ; and, 

 indeed, the plumage of the second year is so distinct that it 

 should, perhaps, be described as a fourth stage. It has a 

 character intermediate between the first plumage of the young 

 and that of the adults in winter having both the shaded 

 ash-grey ground-colour of the latter, and also some of the 

 speckled or mottled features of the former. 



GODWIT, ADULT. (JANUARY.) 



It is these endless variations which have perplexed and 

 confused scientists for generations, and at the present day 

 there is, perhaps, no one who fully understands them none 

 certainly better than my friend Mr. C. M. Adamson, whose 

 study of the Godwit (" Scraps about Birds," pp. 40 and 

 158) should be digested by any one who wishes to unravel 

 these intricate problems. Some ornithologists appear to be 

 unaware of the blue (winter) stage, which, at least on this 

 coast, is by far the commonest of all. This appears rather 

 unaccountable in the case of so extremely abundant a winter 



