392 



LIMOSA. 



Literature. Plates. — Gould, Birds of Australia., vi. pi. 28. 



Habits. — Gould, Handb. Birds Austr. ii. p. 51 ; Radde, Reis. Siid-Ost. Sibir. ii. p. 331. 

 Eggs. — Taczan. Jouvn. Orn. 1873, p. 104. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tiou. 



It is not known that the Siberian Black-tailed Godvvit differs from its European ally, 

 except in size, as has already been pointed out. 



No Black-tailed Godwit has been recorded from the main valley of the Obb or from 

 that of the Yenesay. The western tributaries of the former river appear to be the eastern 

 limit of the range of the European Black-tailed Godwit ; whilst the eastern tributaries of 

 the latter river appear to be the western limit of the Siberian Black-tailed Godwit. The 

 latter race breeds in the Altai Mountains, the basin of Lake Baikal, and throughout the 

 valley of the Amoor ; it passes through Mongolia and Japan on migration, and winters in 

 China, Burma 1 1 the islands of the Malay Archipelago, and North Australia. 



LIMOSA HUDSONICA. 



AMERICAN BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



Diagnosis. Limosa axillaribus subalaribusque nigricantibus. 



Variations. No ] oca [ races f this species are known. 



Synonymy. Scolopax lisemastica, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 147 (1758). 



Scolopax budsonica, Latham, Index Om. ii. p. 720 (1790). 

 Limicula hudsonica [Lath.), Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. iii. p. 250 (1816). 



1 Three examples collected by Oates in Burma, and now in the National Collection, vary in length of 

 ■wing from 7-4 to 70 inch, and in length of tarsus from 2-6 to 2-5 ; a third, also collected by Oates in Burma, 

 is larger (wing 8-2, tarsus 3-1 inch). The three first mentioned are unquestionably the eastern form, and contrast 

 strikingly with the Indian examples in the Hume Collection, which are as unquestionably the western form. 

 There must be some mistake in the measurements given by Oates in his ' Birds of British Burma,' ii. p. 409 (a 

 hook, by the way, which ought to be in the hands of every ornithological student). His average is probably 

 the mean between the largest and smallest examples, instead of the actual mean of the whole series. 



