202 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family CHAEADEIIDiE. Genus Limosa. 



Subfamily Totaninm. 



BLACK=TAILED QODWIT. 



LIMOSA MELANUEA-LezsZer. 



Scolopax limosa, Linn. Syst. Nat i. p. 246 (1766). 



Limosa aegocephala (Linn.), apud : Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p, 269 (1852) ; Dresser, B. 



Eur. viii. p. 211, pi. 574 (1872) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 488 (1883) ; Lilford, 



Col. Pig. Brit. B. pt. xxviii. (1893). 

 Totanus melanurus (Leisler) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 162 (1885) ; Seebohm, 



Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 143, pi. 42 (1896). 

 Limosa melanura, Leisler ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 254 (1894). 

 Limosa limosa (^Linn.), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 313 (1896) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 381 (1896). 



Geographical distribution — British .- Although the Black-tailed God- 

 wit formerly bred in the eastern counties of England, it is now much rarer than 

 the preceding species. It is half a century ago since the last eggs were taken in 

 Norfolk. It occurs sparingly, but fairly regularly, on spring and autumn passage, 

 on the low-lying coasts of the east of England, south of the Humber ; much less 

 frequently elsewhere, although it is said to visit the coast of Lancashire every 

 autumn. It is very much rarer in Scotland, even on the eastern coasts ; but it 

 has been observed as far north as the Shetlauds ; on the west coast it is only 

 accidental. It is of rare occurrence in Ireland, chiefly in autumn. It occasionally 

 strays inland to large sheets of water, and a few laggards are sometimes met with 

 in winter. Foreign : Western Palsearctic region ; Oriental region occasionally in 

 winter. It breeds in Iceland and the Faroes. On Continental Europe it breeds 

 in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Scandinavia (occasionally up to the Arctic circle), 

 Poland, North Germany, and Central and Southern Eussia. In Asia it breeds in 

 Western Turkestan and South-western Siberia up to lat. 60°, and as far east as 

 the western tributaries of the Obb. It passes Western Europe both by way of 

 the coasts and across inland districts on migration, and winters on the Spanish 

 littoral and in the basin of the Mediterranean, occasionally wandering to the 

 Canaries and Madeira, and down the Eed Sea to Abyssinia. The birds breeding 

 in the east appear to pass West Turkestan on migration to winter in the basin 

 of the Caspian, in the Persian Galf, and in India and Ceylon, those visiting the 

 latter country crossing the Himalayas on passage. 



