Winter 
plumage 
and young. 
94 GRALLATORES. LIMOSA. GopwiITt. 
formed upon the same model as those of the Totani, the 
outer toe being joined to the intermediate one by a mem- 
brane. They inhabit marshes, and the banks and mouths 
of rivers, where the muddy deposit is deep and soft, and in 
which, by probing with their long and semiflexible bills, 
they find worms, and aquatic insects and their larva, upon 
which they constantly feed. When thus engaged, these 
birds are frequently seen with the head entirely under wa- 
ter; and we accordingly find them amply provided with the 
peculiar gland, situated immediately above the eye, whose 
function appears to be that of lubricating and defending this 
delicate organ from the effects of saline and other waters. 
They are subject to a double moult, and their nuptial dress 
is very different from the plumage they wear during the 
other parts of the year. The females exceed the males much 
in size, and it has been remarked that they are much later 
than the other sex in acquiring the change of feather dis- 
tinctive of the breeding season. They perform the same 
migratory movements as the rest of the Scolopacide, and 
their passage takes place at the same periods. 
BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 
Limosa metanvra, Leisler. 
PLATE XXI. Fires. 1. and 2. 
Limosa melanura, Leis. Nacht. zu. Bechst. Naturg. Deut. Heft 2. 150 
and 157. fig. 21—Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 2. 664.—Horsf. in 'Trans. 
Linn. Soc. 13. 193. 
Limosa /Egocephala, Flem. Br. Anim. 1. 107. sp. 150. 
Fedoa melanura, Steph. Shaw’s Zool. 12. 73. but not the figure, which 
appears to be that of the Red or Common Godwit. 
Barge & Queu noir, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 2. 264. 
Black-tailed Godwit, Shaw’s Zool. 15. 73.—Flem. Br. Anim. 1. 107. sp. 150. 
Scolopax Limosa, Linn. Syst. 1. 245. 12.—Gmel. Syst. 1. 666.—Lath. Ind. 
Oma?) 71S NG. 
Fedoa nostra secunda, Raii Syn. 105. A. 5.— Will. 216.—Id. (Angl.) 293. 
La Barge ou Barge commun, Buff: Ois. 7. 509. t. 27. 
Lesser Godwit, Penn. Br. Zool. 2. 444. No. 182, male. 
Jadreka Snipe, Lath. Syn. 5. 146.—Mont. Orn. Dict. 2. and Sup. with a 
plate.—Lewin’s Br. Birds, 4. pl. 162. 
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