OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 239 



the syllables kyd-kyd-kyd, often very persistently uttered as the 

 birds fly up and down the mud-flats. During the pairing season 

 the male utters a trill. 



Nidification. — No thoroughly trustworthy observations of the 

 breeding habits of the Bar-tailed Godwit have yet been made. Its 

 breeding grounds are on the swampy moors of the Arctic regions, 

 and are apparently very locally distributed. Eggs of this bird 

 were obtained by WoUey in Finland on the 29th of May, and he 

 states that it breeds in marshes, and that the nests are hard to 

 find. The nest is said to be merely a slight hollow, lined with a 

 little dry vegetable refuse. The eggs are four in number, olive- 

 green of various shades in ground colour, spotted and blotched 

 with darker brown, and with underlying markings of gray. They 

 measure on an average 2-2 inches in length by i '45 inch in breadth. 

 It is impossible to distinguish them from eggs of the Black-tailed 

 Godwit. Probably this species only rears one brood in the 

 season. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Limosa, with the lower back, rump, 

 under wing coverts, and axillaries white, obscurely marked with 

 brown. Length, 15 to 16 inches. 



