SCOLOPACID.E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — LIMOSA. 263 



ill Xewfoundlaml, but was informed by Mr. ^laeCullock that it breeds ou Prince 

 Edward's Islantl, from wliieli tlie pairs spread along the coast of Nova Scotia, and 

 there remain until very severe weather drives them away. 



Mr. MacFarlane found this .sj^ecies breeding in the vicinity of Fort Andci'son, on 

 the 9tli of June. The nest was on the ground, was composed of a few decayed leaves 

 lying in a small hole scooped in the earth, and contained foiu- eggs. Other nests 

 were found and birds obtained on the Lower Anderson Kiver. They wove mere 

 depressions in the ground, lined with withered leaves. 



Examples of this species were also taken at Eort Eae, on Great Slave Lake, by 

 Mr. Kennicott ; at Moose Fort by Mr. I. McKenzie ; on the Anderson River by Mr. 

 B. R. Ross ; ou Big Island by Mr. Reid ; and at Fort Kenzie by Bischoif. 



Three of the eggs collected by Mr. MacFarlane are in the Smithsonian Collection. 

 In two of these the ground is of a deep raw-umber color, or an olivaceous drab. 

 There are no well-defined spots, but the apex of the larger end is deeply stained with 

 a dark burnt-umber color. A few very indistinct spots of a paler shade of this tint 

 are visible over the general surface of the eggs. The other egg has a gi'ound-color of 

 a paler umber-drab, and the markings are quite distinct. These are small irregular 

 blotches, longitudinal in their direction, and of a deep burnt-umber tint. The apex 

 of the larger end is covered l)y a broad patch, in which all the markings, of a very 

 dark umber, almost black, run into each otlier. These eggs are pyriform in shajie, 

 and measure 2.1.") by 1.41. 2.11' by Lo9, aud 2.22 by 1.40 inches. 



Limosa aegocephala. 



BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



Scolopax limosa, Lixx. S. N. ed. 10, 175S, 147 ; ed. 12, 1766, 245. 



Scolopax (egoceplmlci, Linn. S. N. I. 1766, 216, no. 16. 



Limosa cegocephala, Le.\ch, Syst. Cat. 1810, 34. —Keys. & Bl.4s. Wirb. Eur. 1840, 74. — Boxap. 



Comp. List, 1838, 52. — Gr.^y. Geu. B. III. 1849, 570; Cat. Brit. B. 1863, 156. — Keinh. 



Ibis, 1861, 11 (Greenland). — Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 546. — CouES, Check List, 



2d ed. 1882, no. 630. 

 Totanus rufus, Beciist. Naturg. IV. 253. 

 Limosa mclanurus, Leisi. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg. 1 811-1815, 150, 157. — Nacm. Vog. Deutsclil. 



VIII. 1836, 406, pis. 212, 213. — Macgill. Man. II. 81. 

 Scolopax belgica, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 663. 

 Limosa jadreca, Leach, Syst. Cat. 1816, 32. 

 Limosa islandica, Biiehm, Vog. Deutsclil. 1831, 626. 

 Black-tailed Godwit, Yarrell, Brit. B. vA. 2, II. 634, fig. ; ed. 3, II. 681, fig. ; et Attct. 



Hab. The Palisarctio Region ; accidental in Greenland. 



Sp. Char. Adult, in sumvur : Head, neck, and jugulum, cinnamon, streaked on the tirst and 

 barred on the last with dusky ; remaining lower parts white, the breast and sides barred with 

 dusky. Back and scapnlars mixed bhrck, cinnamon, and grayish ; wing-covert.<, brownish gray ; 

 greater coverts widely tipped with white, forming a conspicuous patch ; .secondaries partly white ; 

 primaries dusky, the fifth to tlie seventh wliite at the base, forming a second white patch on the 

 wing. Rump, longer upper tail-coverts, and most of tlie tail dusky ; upjier tail-coverts (except 

 terminal half of the longer feathers) and base of the tail, immaculate white, this occupying the 

 greater part of the outer rectrices. A.\illars and lining of the wing inunaculatc white. Winter 

 plumage : Wings, tail, rump, etc., as in summer ; head, neck, back, and scapulars dark brownish 

 gray, the head and neck lighter ; jugulum pale gray, without bars ; other lower parts white. 

 Young, first plumage : " Head dull brown, the feathers edged with rufous-buff ; an indistinct light- 

 buff line passing from the base of the bill above and beyond the eye ; neck dark buff ; back earthy 

 brown, with here and there a dark blackish brown feather, all being edged with dull nifous . . . 



