200 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Wash, without their showing the least alarm — only greeting me with what 

 I should say were expressions of astonishment. Probably I was the first human 

 being they had ever seen. During their sojourn on our coasts these birds confine 

 themselves principally to low coasts, where a considerable area of mud is exposed 

 at low tide. They are very fond of frequenting the little creeks and dykes that 

 intersect salt marshes, and during high water often repair short distances inland 

 to wait for the ebb. The Bar-tailed Godwit during autumn and winter is 

 generally a gregarious species, and sometimes unites into very large flocks at the 

 feeding grounds; but these gatherings are easily dispersed, and the birds divide 

 into parties and often fly off in various directions. Hume records similar habits 

 in the winter quarters of this species in Kurrachee Harbour. This Godwit 

 usually walks about the soft muds and marshes, but can, when occasion requires, 

 run with considerable swiftness. Its flight is rapid and often rather unsteady at 

 first, and, like most Waders, the bird frequently skims for a short distance before 

 it alights. When reposing on some mud-bank the long neck is usually drawn in 

 close to the body, and one leg is often held up. It moves about a good deal at 

 night, and is often taken in the flight nets of the Wash at that time. It wades 

 frequently; but never attempts to swim or dive unless wounded. The food of 

 the Bar-tailed Godwit during autumn and winter consists of insects, crustaceans, 

 snails, and sand-worms. Hume remarks that birds shot in India which he 

 dissected had been feeding on what appeared to be minute acephalce or jellyfish. 

 In summer the bird subsists largely on insects and their larvse, worms, and 

 possibly ground fruits and berries. The flesh of this species is not very palatable, 

 especially when the birds are shot in winter, or after long residence on the coast. 

 A young bird, shot soon after its arrival in our islands in autumn, is in the 

 best condition for the table. The note of this Godwit resembles the syllables 

 hyd-kyd-kya, often very persistently uttered as the birds fly up and down the 

 mud-flats. During the pairing season the male utters a trill. 



Nidilication. — No thoroughly trustworthy observations of the breeding 

 habits of the Bar-tailed Godwit have been recorded until Mr. H. L. Popham 

 published his Yenisei experiences of this species in the Ibis last year (1897) . Its 

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

 very local. Eggs of this bird were obtained by Wolley in Finland on the 29th of 

 May, and he states that it breeds in marshes, and that the nests are hard to find. 

 Mr. Popham met with this Godwit in fair numbers between lat. 69° and 72° 

 in the valley of the Yenisei. He states that never more than one pair occupies 

 the same district when nesting. Like Wolley he experienced great difficulty in 

 finding the nests, which he describes as a slight hollow on the high-lying tundra. 

 These were met with on the 27th of June and the 3rd of July, in each case being 

 in the vicinity of a nest belonging to Buffon's Skua. Both birds take part in the 

 incubation of the eggs. The one upon the nest keeps very close, seldom leaving 



