28 SCOLOPACID.E. 



leave their birth-place last, and are eagerly looked for by 

 sportsmen, who either shoot them, or take them in horse-hair 

 springes or nets, for the quality of their flesh is equal to that of 

 the snipe, and they are much superior in size. 



The entire length of the Black-tailed Godwit is seventeen 

 inches and a half; the beak, from the forehead, measures four 

 inches and a half; the tarsus, three inches three lines; the 

 tibia nearly two inches ; the tail three inches and three quar- 

 ters ; the wing, from the carpus to the tip, nine inches and a 

 half. 



The feathering of the male in summer plumage is as 

 follows : — The crown of the head reddish-brown, streaked 

 with black ; the forehead, streak over the eye and chin, 

 white ; cheeks, neck, and breast, pale reddish-brown, the 

 breast barred with dusky. The back and scapulars black in 

 the centre of the feathers, each of which is margined and 

 barred with reddish-brown. Lesser wing-coverts dusky ; the 

 greater coverts deeply margined with white. Belly, thighs, 

 under tail-coverts and vent, white ; the rump white ; tail 

 black, the base of the feathers white. Beak orange at the 

 base, the tip black. Iris dusky : legs lead colour. 



In winter, the plumage differs greatly. The head, neck, 

 upper parts of the breast, back, and scapulars, are cinereous, 

 darkest in the centre of the feathers. The wing-coverts more 

 dusky, deeply margined with pale, greyish ash. The whole 

 of the under parts white ; quills are dusky, with a white 

 spot at their tips. The shafts and the basal parts of the 

 outer webs of the quills white, forming a bar across the wing 

 when open ; the tail black, and all except the two middle 

 feathers, are white at the base, this white in summer plumage 

 never shews, unless the bird flies or spreads its tail. The 

 base of the beak is yellowish-orange, the tip dusky. 



The egg figured 187 is that of the Black-tailed Godwit. 



