PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 99 



GODWITS. 



These birds rank amongst the rarest and most 

 local of the British species of Limicolae, so that 

 little more than a passing allusion to them is 

 necessary in a work of the present character. 

 One of them, the Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa 

 melanura, formerly known as the "Yarwhelp" or 

 " Barker," used to breed regularly in some of the 

 eastern counties of England, but for nearly fifty 

 years now it has not been known to do so. The 

 reclamation of its fenland haunts, and the practice 

 of netting it during the breeding season, have 

 probably been the chief causes of its extirpation. 

 A few birds still continue to appear on our coasts, 

 especially on the vast mud-flats and salt-marshes 

 of East Anglia, during their annual migrations, 

 and a few remain to winter. Outside our limits 

 it nests in Iceland and the Faroes, and in Scandi- 

 navia ; but its chief breeding-area extends across 

 Europe, from Holland to the south of Russia. 

 In winter it draws southwards, visiting the 

 Mediterranean basin and parts of Africa. The 

 Blacktailed Godwit appears on the British coasts 

 on passage, during April and May, the return 

 journey beginning in August, and lasting for about 

 a month. In its habits it is very like the Curlew, 

 picking up its food on the muds and marshes, 

 walking deliberately to and fro, wading through 

 the shallows, and sometimes standing in the water 



