358 CHAKADKIID^ 



Nest. The nest is generally situated in marshes, and 

 near water ; it consists of a rather shallow hollow, scantily 

 lined with dry grasses and other vegetation. The eggs, 

 four in number, are pale brownish-green, spotted with 

 brown. Before the fens and marshes of some of the eastern 

 counties of England were reclaimed, the Black-tailed God- 

 wit was known to breed with us. It formerly nested in 

 Norfolk, Lincoln, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon, and South 

 Yorkshire. In Norfolk, according to Stevenson, it bred 

 annually until about 1830, though for many years after- 

 wards, odd pairs probably nested in that county. " The 

 last nest heard of was one containing three eggs, taken at 

 Reedham, Norfolk, in 1857. These eggs were sold at 

 Stevens's, March 23, 1858, and two of them are in the 

 collection of Professor Newton " (Harting). It bred in the 

 other counties named until the beginning of the last century. 



Large numbers were formerly netted for table-use (this 

 species being considered a very great delicacy), which 

 thinned out the numbers of nesting-birds very considerably. 



Geographical distribution. The Black-tailed Godwit 

 breeds in several countries of Temperate and Northern 

 Europe, notably Belgium, Denmark, Holland, North Ger- 

 many, Scandinavia, and Russia; also in Iceland. It is 

 found breeding in the western section of Temperate and 

 Northern Asia, e.g., Siberia. On migration in autumn and 

 winter, it visits the sea-board of Europe, Northern Africa, 

 and Southern Asia, as far as India and Ceylon. Many 

 birds spend the winter about the Mediterranean basin. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, and hind- 

 neck, reddish brown, with dark brown markings ; back 

 and scapulars, brownish, mottled with black; wings, chiefly 

 brownish, with a noticeable bar of white ; primaries, dusky ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts, white ; tail-feathers, blackish, 

 with broad white bases and thinly margined with white; 

 cheeks, throat, neck, and breast, reddish-brown, the lower 

 part of the breast being barred with black ; abdomen, 

 greyish- white, with brown bars ; chin and under tail-coverts, 

 white. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage, but 

 the reddish-brown shadings are duller. 



