GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 241 



Allied Forms. — Limosa melanura melanuroides, eastern 

 Palsearctic region ; Oriental and northern Australian regions in 

 winter. Breeds from the eastern tributaries of the Yenesay, 

 through the Altai Mountains and the Baikal basin to the valley of 

 the Amoor, not occurring north of lat. 55° in East Siberia. 

 Passes Mongolia and Japan on migration, and winters in China, 

 Burma, the Malay Archipelago, Northern Australia, and many of 

 the Pacific Islands. The Eastern form of the Black-tailed Godwit, 

 only subspecifically distinct. In spite of the fact that the area of 

 distribution during the breeding season appears to be dis- 

 continuous, the Eastern and Western forms completely intergrade, 

 a fact owing probably to the winter quarters of each impinging. 

 As may be seen, this is exactly reversed in the Bar-tailed Godwit, 

 in which the breeding area of the two forms overlaps but the 

 winter area is discontinuous. Typical examples only differ from 

 the Black-tailed Godwit in size, measuring in length of wing from 

 7'o to 8'o inches, instead of from 8'o to g'o inches, as in the 

 Western race, and in length of tarsus from 2-25 to 3'o inches, 

 instead of from 3-0 to 3 "7 5 inches. This form should be looked 

 for on the British coasts, especially in autumn. Z. hudsonica, 

 the American representative of the Black-tailed Godwit, breeding 

 on the tundras of Arctic America from Alaska to Baffin Bay, 

 wintering in the temperate regions of South America to the 

 Falkland Islands. Distinguished from the Black-tailed Godwit 

 by having the axillaries and under wing coverts dark brown 

 instead of white. 



Time during which the Black-tailed Godwit may be 



taken. — August I St to March ist (to March 15th in Essex). 



Habits. — Flocks of Black-tailed Godwits begin to leave their 

 winter quarters south of the Mediterranean in February, and con- 

 tinue to do so until the middle of March. These birds do not 

 appear to be in any great hurry to reach their breeding grounds, 

 as they pass slowly up the coasts of Western Europe, not reaching 

 our islands before April and May, which is also the date of their 

 arrival in Denmark. The return migration begins in Denmark 

 and the British Islands in August, and lasts into September ; in 

 France it begins in September and continues into October. In 

 Upper India this species does not arrive in any great numbers 



R 



