Gopwir. GRALLATORES. LIMOSA. 95 
Scolopax belgica, Gmel. Syst. 1. 663.—Lath. Ind. 2. 716. 9. 
Scolopax Egocephala, Linn. Syst. 1. 246. 16.—Gmel. Syst. 1. 667.—Lath. 
Ind. Orn. 2. 719. 16. 
Limosa rufa major, Briss. 5. 284. 6. 
Agocephalus Bellonii, Raii Syn. 105. A. 4.—Will. 2. 215. Id. (Angl.) 
294., Summer 
Le Grande Barge rousse, Buff: Ois. 7. 505. plumage. 
Godwit, Lath. Syn. 5. 142. 14. A. 
Scolopax Hudsonica, Lath —Ind. 2. 720. 20. 
Hudsonian Godwit, Lath, Syn. Sup. 246. 
Red Godwit, Penn. Br. Zool. 5. No. 181.—Lath. Syn. 5. 142.—Mont. 
Ornith. Dict. 1., but the synonyms quoted belong to the Bar-tailed 
Godwit. 
THE numerous list of synonyms above quoted is an evi- 
dent proof of the uncertainty, and consequent confusion, at- 
tending the history of this species, arising, it would appear, 
from the earlier ornithologists being quite unacquainted with 
the peculiar change of plumage to which these, as well as 
many other birds, are periodically subject; for, if we ana- 
lyze the various specific names now before us, we shall find 
that most of them have been given, either when the bird had 
actually perfected some considerable change, as that from 
the winter to the spring (or nuptial) dress, or else in the in- 
termediate state, that is, of progress from one to the other. 
Of our naturalists, Monracu was among the first to discover 
and fix his attention on this important fact, of such value 
towards elucidating the history of species, and, by such in- 
vestigation, succeeded in clearing away many inaccuracies 
and mistakes which had crept into our native ornithology. 
With respect to the bird in question, he has, however, fallen 
into some error in the two first volumes of his Ornithological 
Dictionary, by confounding the synonyms of the two species; 
but, in his description and figure of the Jadreka Snipe, in the 
supplement to the same work, we at once detect Limosa me- 
lanura (Black-tailed Godwit) ; and in his Red-breasted Snipe, 
we recognise the summer plumage of the Common Godwit of 
many authors, the Red or Bar-tailed Godwit ( Limosa rufa) 
of this work. 
This species seems to have been hitherto considered as a 
