107 



BAE-TAILED GODWIT. (SPRING). 

 Case 143. 



The Godwits are here shown in the inter- 

 mediate state between winter and summer plumage. 



When they first arrive on the mudbanks in 

 the southern and eastern counties early in May, 

 the greater portion of them are in this stage ; but 

 as the season advances the full-plumaged birds 

 become more numerous. 



The specimens in the case were shot on 

 Breydon mudflats near Yarmouth in the first week 

 in May, 1873. 



BAE-TAILED GODWIT. (SUMMER). 

 Case 144. 



Years ago the arrival of the " May- birds," as 

 these Godwits were called, used to be anxiously 

 looked for by all the shore gunners round our 

 southern and eastern coasts. On their first 

 appearance they were generally exhausted by their 

 long flight and fell easy victims to their numerous 

 assailants. 



If all the yarns of the old Breydon fowlers are 

 to be believed, these birds must in days gone by 

 have visited the mudflats in that districts in count % - 

 less thousands. At the present day their numbers 

 have sadly fallen off, as I have often spent the 

 whole of May from daylight till dark on the mud- 

 banks without seeing more than two or three 

 hundred pass during the month. 



The flight time commences about the beginning 

 of May, the 12th to the 15th being usually 

 considered the best days ; the date however varies 

 with the wind, east-south-east, east and east-north- 

 east being the most favourable quarters. Should 

 the wind continue west or south-west during the 

 whole of May, it is quite possible that hardly a 



