44 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



of the breeding season. The longer legged Black- 

 tailed Godwit or " Broad-tailed Strant " was a much 

 scarcer bird, and never came in such large parties 

 as he of the barred tail. This seemed strange, for 

 the black-tailed bird is the one which used to breed in 

 the English fens, and still nests in the marshes 

 of Holland — from which circumstance it might be 



:w:-^' 



THE DUNLING. 



expected to visit us more frequently and in larger 

 numbers than is found to be the case, the Bar- 

 tailed Godwit having to reach and return from its 

 breeding haunts, which lie beyond lat. 60° N. in 

 Finland, Northern Russia, and Siberia. All these 

 birds were more numerous in the autumn, when 

 the bulk of the flocks consisted of young birds, dis- 

 tinguishable by their shorter and weaker bills, and 

 by their buff-coloured breasts. 



