BRITISH BIRDS 



migrating in winter to the central and southern parts of that Continent and the 

 West Indian Islands. The nest is placed on the ground among marshes, and 

 contains four eggs, which, according to Seebohm's British Birds, "vary in ground- 

 colour from pale huffish-brown to pale greenish-brown, spotted and blotched with 

 dark reddish-brown, and with well-marked pale greyish-brown underlying spots." 

 This species obtains its food like the Sandpipers, by probing the sand and mud 

 with its long bill. 



The specimen in the plate is shown in full summer dress ; in winter the colour 

 of the upper parts in general becomes a dull ashen-grey, whilst during the inter- 

 mediate stage of plumage in autumn, when the bird visits the British Islands, the 

 colour is more or less brown. It is, therefore, sometimes known as the Brown 

 Snipe. 



THE BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 



Limosa lapponica (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 69. 



This bird of passage visits our shores in some numbers every year in spring and 

 autumn, often frequenting suitable localities throughout the winter, and even at 

 times lingering during the summer months, but it has never been known to nest in 

 the British Islands. 



The Bar-tailed Godwit breeds in the northern parts of Europe and in Siberia, 

 where it ranges as far east as the Yenesei, while in winter it migrates to Southern 

 Europe, Africa, and South-western Asia. 



The nest is merely a small hollow in the ground, and the four eggs are pale 

 olive-green, with dark markings of brown. 



When on our coasts this species often associates with other waders, and may be 

 seen on the wet sands and mud-flats of estuaries and other parts of the shore search- 

 ing the pools and probing the soft ground with its long, slightly upcurved bill in 

 quest of the worms, insects, and small marine creatures on which it lives. 



Macgillivray says their note is a loud shrill whistle. According to Stevenson's 

 Birds of Norfolk, vol. ii. p. 253, the Bar-tailed Godwit arrives so punctually on the 

 Norfolk coast, on its vernal passage in May, that the 12th of that month is known 

 to the gunners as " Godwit day." 



The birds are then usually in their beautiful russet summer-dress, which changes 

 in the winter to sober brown and grey. 



The female, though less brightly coloured, is considerably larger than the male. 



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