636 SCOLOPACIDiE. 



The changes in colour our two Godwits undergo in 

 spring, during the gradual assumption of the perfect dress 

 of summer, and the autumnal moult producing again in its 

 turn the plumage of winter the general similarity in the 

 colours of the two species, and the difference in the size of 

 the two sexes of the same species, the females being con- 

 siderably larger than the males, led to some confusion in 

 the works of some of the earlier British writers on Birds ; 

 but in several of the species of the extensive family of the 

 Scolopacida, now under consideration, the tail-feathers 

 alone supply good specific distinctions, as shown in the in- 

 stance of the Green and Wood Sandpipers lately described. 

 The Godwit of the present article may be known at all 

 ages and seasons from the smaller one that here follows it, 

 by the tail-feathers, the terminal two-thirds of which are 

 invariably black ; while in the next species the tail-feathers 

 are as invariably barred throughout their whole length 

 with black and white. These permanent distinctions have 

 suggested the names now in use. 



The Black-tailed Godwits are most frequently seen in 

 spring and autumn ; the first yearly visiters being adult 

 birds on their way to the breeding grounds in high northern 

 latitudes ; in the autumn more examples are seen than in 

 spring, but these are mostly young birds of the year going 

 for the first time to their southern winter quarters. A few 

 pairs annually resort to the marshes of Norfolk and the fens 

 of Lincolnshire ; but they are rarely permitted to breed 

 unmolested, their large size and peculiar actions being sure 

 to attract the notice both of the sportsman and the egg 

 gatherer. The Rev. Richard Lubbock says, it still breeds 

 occasionally in some of our Norfolk marshes, return- 

 ing to the same locality, I think, year after year, being 

 found in only two or three situations to my knowledge, 



