794 Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 



etc. i 2); Corea (Kalinowski i 2); Kurile Is. (Pallas, Snow e 3); Japan (Siebold, 

 etc. e 3, el); China (David, etc. a 4); Formosa seen only, and Hainan (Swinlioe 

 d 3, a 6); Philippines — Bohol (Everett 8), ?Negros (Steere f 3); Borneo (Ever. 

 d 14); Singapore (Davison 8); Java (v. Hasselt rf 4); Timor (Sal. Miiller d 4); 

 Talaut — Kabruang (Nat. Coll. d 20); Celebes — (Forsten d4), Minahassa (P.&F.S.), 

 Gorontalo Distr. (Rosenb. d 11, Riedel a 8); Moluccas — Halmahera (Bernst. d 4, 

 Wallace 8); Papuasia — Aru, New Guinea, New Britain, Solomon Is. (f. Salvad. 

 a 6); Is. Torres Str. (Salvad. a 6); Aiistraha and Tasmania (Gould d II, Ramsay 

 d 13); Polynesia — New Caledonia, Loyalty Is., New Hebrides, Caroline Is., Gilbert 

 . Is., Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga Is. (fide Wiglesw. 6); New Zealand (Buller, etc. V); 

 Chatham Is. (H. O. Forbes 7). 



The Pacific form of the Bar-tailed Godwit is very closely related to the 

 Limosa lapponica of Europe and Asia (except the East), but may be recognised 

 by its brown lower back with fulvous or whitish terminal edgings, as against 

 the white with a few brown heart-shaped or arrow-head spots in L. lapponica\ 

 also the rump and upper tail-coverts of L. novaezealandiae are white barred with 

 brown, as against white with a few brown spots (bars on the longer tail-coverts) 

 in the western form, and a corresponding difference is seen on the under wing- 

 coverts. L. novaezealm\diae holds itself to the countries and islands washed by 

 the Western and Northern Pacific; L. lapponica has been recorded as far east as 

 the Yenesei (Seebohm) and by Lord Tweeddale (P. Z. S. 1878, 711) from 

 Bohol in the Philippines. One of these specimens from Bohol is now before 

 us; it cannot be separated from L. lapponica. 



The Pacific Godwit breeds in the highest northern latitudes, and as yet its 

 eggs seem to have been recorded from^ only two spots — from the Taimyr 

 Peninsula of Siberia, 75" N., by von Middendorff, and from the mouth of 

 the Yukon by Dall (h 1). In winter the main body of individuals migrate 

 across the Pacific, or over China, to Australia and New Zealand, in which latter 

 country some remain all the year, and Sir Walter Buller (V) mentions an 

 egg from there, which he can refer to no other species. The number of in- 

 dividuals which visit New Zealand seems to be enormous; Buller speaks of 

 tens of thousands of birds having been seen setting off from the north of North 

 Island on their northward journey, and mentions a case reported to him of 

 ninety-seven being killed out of a pack at a single shot with an ordinary gun ! 

 In the East India Islands, on the other hand, this Godwit is evidently a rare 

 bird. From Celebes we know of only three recorded specimens in Museums, 

 but Rosenberg puts down 5 in his list of birds of Limbotto (d 11), Schlegel 

 records 2 specimens from Halmahera, 1 from Java, 2 from Timor; more recently 

 it has been recorded by Dr. Sharpe and Mr. Everett from Sarawak and Eabuan. 

 also from the Philippines; David (a 4) and Sty an (d 10) mention it as a bird 

 of passage in China, but the former author adds that it even winters there also. 



The bill of this bird, perhaps the most highly specialized organ of it, is 

 very variable in length. From Totanus the genus Limosa may best be distin- 



