660 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



band extending its whole length. Call, more musical than that of 

 Bar -tailed, is a loud, penetrating " gr -wee-toe " often repeated. 



Breeding-habits. — Haunts grassy flats near estuaries and low- 

 lying coasts and inland marshes and moors ; also occasionally in 

 bush-grown sandhills in Holland. Nest. — A thick pad of dead 

 grasses and bents in a hollow among luxuriant grass as a rule ; 

 occasionally also in more open sites. Eggs. — Normally 4, but 5 

 and even 6 have been found, pyriform, ground-colour ranging from 

 greenish -olive to brownish, with blotches, smears and spots of 

 varying shades of brown and occasionally a blackish streak. Average 

 of 100 eggs, 54.7x37.3. Max. : 59.8x37.8 and 55.3x40.7. Min. : 

 48.5x37.7 and 55x34 mm. Breeding-season.- — From end April 

 through May in Central Europe ; end May and early June in Iceland. 

 Incubation. — Apparently shared by sexes. Period 24 days (Faber). 

 Single brooded. 



Food. — Insects and their larvse, including coleoptera, orthoptera, 

 odonata, etc. ; also worms, and according to Naumann fish and frog 

 spawn as well as tadpoles and mollusc a (snails, slugs and both 

 marine and fresh -water mollusca). 



Distribution. — British Isles. — Irregular passage -migrant (mid- 

 April to mid- June and early August to 3rd week Oct.), chiefly 

 autumn, occasionally spring, more rarely winter and summer. 

 Mostly along east coast from Humber southwards and on south 

 coast ; scarcer north of Humber on east side and everywhere on 

 west side Great Britain ; has occurred O. and I. Hebrides, Orkneys 

 and Shet lands. Fairly frequent migrant to Ireland. Occasionally 

 inland. Formerly summer -resident breeding from south Yorks. to 

 Norfolk ; last 1847 Norfolk, and possibly 1885 Lines. No proof 

 of more recent breeding. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Breeds in north Europe and Asia ; in 

 Europe, in Holland and Belgium, in Iceland, (rarely Fseroes), in 

 Jutland and north Germany (sparingly in Sweden), in Hungary, in 

 Russia north to 60°, and west Asia. Migrates through Europe and 

 west Asia, exact limits to east not yet known ; winters in basin of 

 Mediterranean, north-west Africa to Canaries, also Madeira and 

 Azores and Abyssinia, and one record from Natal ; in Asia winter- 

 quarters are chiefly India and Ceylon. Accidental in Greenland. 

 Represented by a closely -allied race further eastwards in Mongolia, 

 east Siberia, Kamtchatka, south in winter in east Asia to north 

 Australia. 



Genus NUMENIUS Briss. 



Numenius Brisson, On., i, p. 48 (1760 — Type by tautonymy "Nu- 

 merous," i.e. Scolopax arquata L. 1758, according to vol. v, p. 311). 



Large to middle sized Scolopacine Waders with long curved 

 bills, blunt and very slightly thickened at tip. Tarsus long, longer 

 than middle toe ; covered with hexagonal scales, but in front partly 



