214 



The present species has a more extended range than the Bar-tailed Godwit, but appears to be 

 distributed more to the south and west during the breeding-season than that bird. In former 

 years it used to breed in England, but is now in all probability only found with us during the 

 seasons of migration, and is by far less numerous than the Bar-tailed Godwit. Mr. More writes 

 that " until lately a few pairs were accustomed to breed annually in the fens of Norfolk, Cam- 

 bridge, Huntingdon, and Lincoln ; but it is believed that the birds have now nearly deserted their 

 former haunts, Norfolk being the only county in which there is a possibility that a pair or two 

 may linger occasionally. The late Mr. H. Reid, of Doncaster, has frequently told me that the 

 Black-tailed Godwit used, within his recollection, to breed on Hatfield Moor, in which locality 

 he once found the young birds himself." It occurs on our coasts during the autumn and spring, 

 but is somewhat rare. Mr. Rowe records it as rare on the Exe in the autumn and winter (?); and 

 Dresser has on several occasions obtained it on the coasts of Kent and Sussex in the autumn. 



In Scotland it is, according to Mr. R. Gray, strictly a winter visitant, and only of rare 

 occurrence in any part of the country. One was shot near Dumbarton in November 1867 ; 

 another near Castle Temple, Renfrewshire, in August 1869. It has also been obtained in 

 Forfarshire and Aberdeenshire. It is said to have occurred as far north as Greenland; but 

 only two instances of its occurrence are on record. Professor Reinhardt writes, " Fabricius 

 mentions that he had seen a single specimen (Fn. Gr. p. 107); and after his time the bird is said 

 to have been obtained once more, nearly forty years back, at Godthaab ; the specimen was sent 

 to the Royal Museum, but seems not to have been preserved ; at least, I have not been able to 

 find it." It is found in Iceland, where it arrives, according to Faber, the last week in April. 

 Professor Newton thinks there is little doubt about its breeding there. It seems to be rare, if it 

 occurs at all, in the north of Iceland. Captain Feilden saw one at Thorshavn, in Fseroe, which 

 had been killed in May this year (1872); and Mr. H. C. Miiller informed him that it had been 

 known on one occasion to breed on that island. In Scandinavia it is far less numerous than the 

 Bar-tailed Godwit, especially in the north — though, according to Mr. R. Collett, "it bleeds 

 sparingly in Finmark, where Professor Esmark procured it in July 1866 ; but it is generally 

 observed there in the spring and autumn. In the southern part of Norway a single example 

 was shot near Fredrikshald in the spring of 1860." Nilsson writes that "it breeds near 

 Gothenburg. In Bohuslan it arrives in small numbers in April and May, remaining till the 

 end of May, and returning in July." In Finland it is rare ; and Dresser never met with it. 

 Professor Malmgren writes to him that " when on a trip to the mouth of the Tana Elf in 

 August 1871, I observed in about 68^° N. lat., near Skjetschamjok, a bird which I believed to 

 be this species." 



Sabanaeff writes that it is rare in the Governments of Jaroslaf and Moscow, in Northern 

 Russia, and that he " never met with it on the eastern slope of the Ural, where it occurs perhaps 

 only during the spring migration ; but on the western side Teplouhoff met with it breeding as 

 high as 58J?° N. lat. In the valleys of South-eastern Perm it is common as high as 56J° N. lat., 

 and probably breeds in the Kamishlovsky district as high as 57° N. lat." In Poland, Dr. 

 Taczanowski informs us, it is common during the breeding-season in the marshes of the Vistula ; 

 and Meyer writes that it breeds in Esthonia and Livonia. It is a rare migrant on the coasts of 

 North Germany ; and Borggreve states that it is found, though not commonly, on the moors of 



