BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. Limdta agoctphala. 



resorts of this bird, but it may be found occasionally in most localities where the ground 

 is wet and soft and where it can obtain cover. 



The flight of the Godwit is strong, and when an intruder com.es near the nest, the 

 bird rises into the air and wheels uneasily over the spot after the fashion of the lapwing, 

 uttering the while its screaming cry. The nest is placed on the ground sheltered by 

 herbage, and is made of leaves and grass inartificially put together. The eggs are 

 generally four in number, and their colour is light brown with a greenish tinge, covered 

 with spots and blotches of a darker hue. 



The shape of the Godwit is light and graceful, and the tints of its plumage, although 

 not at all brilliant, are rich and soft of their kind and arranged after a pleasing fashion. 

 The general colour of the head, neck, and upper surface is ashen brown, a whitish patch 

 is seen over and in front of the eye, and the feathers of the coverts and tertials are edged 

 with grey-brown. The primaries are dull black with white shafts, and nearly all of them 

 are white towards the base, so that an undefined bar is formed across the wings. The 

 tail is white for the first third, and the remainder is black; the two exterior feathers 

 have, however, more white than the others. The whole under surface of the body is ashen 

 grey, becoming white upon the under tail-coverts. This is the winter plumage; the 

 summer clothing is rather different, and requires a separate description. 



In summer the adult male has the head reddish brown streaked with black, diversified 

 by a light brown streak round the eyes and a dark spotted stripe extending from the base 

 of the beak to the eye. The neck is simple ruddy fawn. The back is curiously mottled 

 with rich tints of black and warm chestnut, each feather having the darker hue on the 

 centre and the lighter on the edge. The primaries retain their dull black .hue, but the 

 white band is of a purer tone and better defined, and the tail undergoes no alteration. 

 The breast is nearly white, barred with brown of several tints. The young birds have a 

 ruddy colouring on the neck, but are to be distinguished by the ashen brown of the neck 

 and upper part of the breast, the grey-white of the lower portion of the breast, and their 

 smaller size. The average length of the male is sixteen inches, and the female is about 

 one inch longer than her mate. 



