BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



LIMOSA yEGOCEPHALA {Linn.). 



Scolopax aegocephala, Linn. S. N. i. p. 2^6 (1768). 

 Limosa melauura, Naum. viii. p. 406; Hewitson, ii. p. 312. 

 Limosa segocephala, Macg. iv. p. 269; Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 488 ; 

 Dresser, viii. p. 211. 



Barge a queue noire, French ; Schwarzschwdnzige Ufer- 

 schnepfe, German ; Abajeta, Sarseruelo, Andalucian. 



This is one of the many species that formerly bred 

 in some numbers in the fen-districts of England, but 

 have become comparatively rare, in some cases extinct, 

 from the ejBFects of drainage, the persecution of local 

 sportsmen and depredators, and, I must add, the greed 

 of collectors and their agents. The excellence of the 

 flesh and of the eggs of this Godwit have of course 

 tended to its extermination as a breeding species in this 

 country. In the ' Al thorp Household Books,' kept 

 during portions of the 16th and 17th centuries, are 

 several entries of high prices paid for " Yarwhelps " — a 

 local eastern-county name for this bird, still in use 

 amongst the marsh-men ; and a fat Godwit has for 

 centuries been accounted as one of the daintiest dishes 



