798 LIMOSA 



and Africa south to Senegambia ; Canaries ; Asia, south to Sind 

 in winter ; Great Britain in spring, autumn, and winter. 



Frequents estuaries, mud-flats, and the sea shore, and is 

 usually seen in company with other waders. Its flight is light 

 and buoyant, and its note a loud shrill whistle. Its food consists 

 of worms, aquatic insects, and crustaceans, in search of which it 

 may be seen probing the mud and sands. It breeds in the in- 

 terior of Lapland, not further west than the Tornea valley, and 

 as far east as the Yenesei, its nest being a mere depression in 

 the ground, or on a tussock, and the eggs, 4 in number, are 

 usually deposited in May, and are light olive-green, marked, 

 chiefly at the larger end, with dark brown, and measure about 

 2-0 by 1-49. 



1100. SUBSP. LIMOSA BAUERI. 



Limosa baueri, Naum. Vog. Deutschl. viii. p. 429 (1836) ; David and 

 Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 459 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. O. p. 933 ; Ridgway, 

 p. 163 ; L. novce-zealandim, Gray, Gen. of B. iii. p. 570 (1847) ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxiv. p. 377 ; L. uropygialis, Gould, 

 P.Z.S. 1848, p. 38 ; id. B. of Austr. vi. pi. 29 ; Seebohm, B. Jap. 

 Emp. p. 329. 



Veretennic, Russ. 



$ ad. (Japan). Differs from L. lapponica in summer in having the 

 red portion of the plumage paler, the lower back and rump blackish 

 with white margins, and the axillaries distinctly barred with brown. 

 Culmen 3*15, wing 8*74, tail 2*95, tarsus, 2*16 inch. In winter it can 

 always be recognised by the dark rump and barred axillaries. 



Hob. Alaska ; Eastern Siberia ; the Commander Islands ; 

 Mongolia ; Japan ; Corea ; migrating to S. China, the Malay 

 Archipelago, Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand in winter. 



In general habits it does not differ from L. lapponica. It 

 breeds in the Lake Hanka district in Mongolia, and in Alaska, 

 its nest being a rounded depression in a tussock, lined with 

 dry grass, and its 2 eggs, which are described as being light 

 olivaceous, spotted with dark brown, but sometimes nearly 

 uniform, in size measure about 2'20 by 1*42. 



1101. BLACK-TAILED GOD WIT. 

 LIMOSA BELGICA. 



Limosa lelgica (Gmel.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 663 (1788) ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, iv. p. 254 ; Saunders, p. 625 ; Poynting, p. 235, pi. 50 ; L. 

 limosa (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 245 (1766) ; Sharpe, Cat. B, Br. 



