834 LIMOSA jEGOCEPHALA. 



Layard's time. This naturalist records the shooting of a pair at Point Pedro in April ; and these specimens 

 are now extant in the Poole collection. It should be looked for in future by gentlemen collecting on the shores 

 of the Jaffna peninsula. It is a common bird in India during the cool season, but is, on the whole, more 

 confined to the north than the south, and, like some other " Waders/' I imagine it is more numerous in 

 some seasons than others. It is to be found in the maritime regions at the mouths of rivers and on the 

 muddy flats surrounding salt lagoons and backwaters. In the Calcutta district it is common at the beginning 

 and end of the cool season, but in the interior very few are seen. In Furrcedpore Mr. Cripps noticed 

 numbers at a sheet of water in some large paddy-fields in March ; but by the beginning of April "not a bird 

 \\ as to be seen." In Pegu it was not noticed by Mr. Oates ; but he writes that numerous flocks frequent the 

 mud flats at the mouth of the Sittang. Further south in Tenasserim the limit of its range, as yet ascer- 

 tained, is Moulmeiu, whence Mr. Hume records a single specimen. It was only once seen in Burmah, at 

 Tonghoo (?), by Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay, and is therefore a very local bird on the east side of the Bay. As 

 regards the north-west, Capt. Butler states that it is common in marshy land and about tanks near Deesa ; and 

 at the Sambhur Lake it is to be found in large flocks. In Kattiawar it is reported to be common in the 

 winter. Elsewhere on the banks of the Indus and on the larger rivers of the Punjab it was occasionally 

 observed by Mr. Hume ; and in the swamps and broads of Sindh it was seen by him in large flocks. Individuals 

 which, as in the case of other Waders, are barren and non-migratory birds have been noticed at Kurrachee 

 during the breeding-season. In Persia Mr. Blanford obtained it at the mouth of the Euphrates, and says 

 that it is found on the Caspian. In Turkestan Severtzoff says that it occurs on passage in the north-western 

 district, which extends up to the sea of Aral, and breeds on the salt plains and other lands up to 1000 feet 

 in elevation. Mr. Dresser remarks that " Dr. Radde observed large flocks in Siberia, at Tarei-nor, on the 

 12th of May, 1856, but lost sight of them during the summer. At Altansk, on the 30th of July, large 

 flocks of old and young birds had collected preparatory to leaving." Von Middendorff found a Godwit 

 breeding on the Schantar Island, in the sea of Okhotsk ; but it is not quite clear whether it was this species 

 or the smaller L. brevipes, which inhabits China, the Malay archipelago, and Australia. Prjevalsky records 

 this latter species only, under the title of L. melanuroides, from South-east Mongolia, and so do Messrs. David 

 and Swinhoe from China ; it therefore appears that the present bird does not range to the eastern coasts of Asia. 

 Turning to Europe we find this Godwit extending in summer as far north as the White Sea, where it 

 doubtless breeds. In Greece and the Ionian Islands it occurs in winter; but elsewhere, in Sicily, Sardinia, 

 and in Italy, it is a bird of passage in spring and autumn. It breeds commonly in Holland, also in Denmark, 

 Silesia, and in Scandinavia. Until of late years it used to nest in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, and also in 

 Lincolnshire ; but it has now become a mere visitant, and is often obtained in spring and autumn. It is a 

 winter visitant to Scotland, but does not occur in Ireland. According to Sabanacff it breeds on the western 

 slopes of the Ural as high as 58|° N. lat. ; it is common in the valleys of South-eastern Perm, and probably 

 breeds, he says, in the Kamishlovsky district. Although it is, as stated, a bird of passage in the Mediterranean 

 region, it is said, on the authority of Von Homeyer, to breed on the Ballearic Isles. In Spain, writes 

 Mr. Saunders, it is not uncommon in winter and abundant in March on passage; and in Andalucia Col. Irby 

 says that it appears in February in bands of from four or five to two or three hundred in number, frequenting 

 the grassy marshes or inundated ground about Casa Vieja and the marismas; its numbers vary considerably 

 in different years, but by the end of March their passage is nearly over, and at that time they are " well advanced 

 in their rufous breeding-plumage." Immense quantities are brought into the Seville market in March ; and 

 this author likewise states that some few birds are found in the winter in Andalucia. It is stated to be common 

 in Portugal. In Morocco Favier records, in his MS. notes, that "it is found on passage near Tangier in 

 abundant flocks, migrating to the north duriug the months of February and March ; they are observed returning 

 in August and September." As regards Egypt, Captain Shelley writes that it is "a winter visitant, ranging 

 throughout Egypt and Nubia, and is by no means uncommon in Lower Egypt and the Fayoom, where I 

 frequently shot it." Von Heuglin states that while many remain in Central Egypt and in the Nile delta 

 after their arrival in September, others ascend the Nile and its tributaries as far as the Kordofan swamps and 

 the Blue and White Nile to about latitude 12°. He saw numbers at the Tana Lake in Abyssinia, and met 

 with solitary individuals until the middle of May, so that he thinks it not impossible that many Godwits mav 

 pass the summer there. I do not find it recorded from the west coast of Africa ; but it has been obtained in 



