388 



LIMOSA, 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



whilst in the western form the prevailing colour of each feather of these parts is white, the 

 brown centres being more or less obscure. 



It is impossible to say where these two forms meet, but most probably on the Taimyr 

 Peninsula. An example which I obtained in the valley of the Yenesay is unquestionably 

 the western form. Probably the Godwits found by Middendorfif on the Taimyr Peninsula 

 are somewhat intermediate, as he failed to notice any difference between them and 

 examples obtained at Okhotsk. The eastern colony of Bar-tailed Godwits pass the coasts 

 of Japan, Mantchuria, and China on migration, and winter in the islands of the Malay 

 Archipelago, Australia, the New Hebrides, Norfolk Island, and New Zealand. 



LIMOSA FEDOA. 



AMERICAN BAB-TAILED GOD WIT. 



Diagnosis. Limosa axillaribus suhalaribusque castaneis. 



Variations, "^q ]ocal races of this species are known. 



Synonymy. Scolopax fedoa, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 146 (1758) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 244 (1766). 



Limosa americana rufa, Brisson, Orn. v. p. 287 (1760). 

 Scolopax marmorata, Latham, Index Orn. ii. p. 720 (1790). 

 Limicula fedoa [Linneus), 



Limicula marmorata 



iUS) , -) 



(Lath ] f '^^'^^^^°^' ^- ^^'^^- d'Hist. Nat. iii. p. 248 (1816). 



Limosa fedoa [Linn.], Sabine, Franklin's Polar Sea, p. 689 (1823). 



Fedoa americana, ■» 



Fedoa marmorata {Lath.),]^^'P^''''' ^^"^'* G^^. Zool, Birds, xii. pt. i. pp. 71, 82 (1824). 



Limosa adspersa, Naumann, Viig Deutschl. viii. p. 429 (1836). 



Totanus fedoa {lAnn.}, Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 158 (1885). 



Literature. 



Plates.— Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, iii. pi. 137 ; Wilson, Am. Orn. pi. 56. fig. 4 ; Audubon, 



Birds of America, v. pi. 348. 

 Habits.— Baird, Brewer, and Kidgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 255. 

 Eggs, described in tbe above-mentioned volume, p. 258, indistinguishable from large examples 



oi L. melanura. 



Specific The American Bar-tailed Godwit, sometimes called the Marbled Godwit, may always 



Onfl.T'fl ft'PT'S 1*11*7 <J v 



be recognized by its chesfmit axillaries and under wing-coverts. 



