74 
BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 
beak to the eye is a reddish-white band ; and be- 
tween the latter and the beak is a brown space : the 
feathers on the top of the head are black, edged with 
bright red: the throat and neck are bright red, 
marked with very small brown dots : the breast and 
sides are bright red transversely rayed with slender 
zigzag black bars : the top of the back and scapulars 
are deep black, with all the feathers terminated by a 
bright red band edged with very small spots of the 
same colour : the wing-coverts are ash-coloured : the 
lower part of the back and the tail are deep black ; 
the basal half of the latter and base of the wing- 
quills and the under parts of the body pure white : 
legs black. In the winter all the upper parts of the 
body are of an uniform ashy-brown, varied with deeper 
shades in the direction of the shafts of the feathers : 
the throat, the fore part of the neck, the breast, and 
the sides are of a bright grey : the rump is dusky : 
the under part of the body and abdomen, the upper 
part of the quills, and the base of the tail-feathers are 
pure white ; and throughout all the latter is a deep 
black band ; the central feathers being tipped with 
white : the base of the beak is dull orange, and its 
tip is black : the legs are dusky brown. The young 
have the band between the upper mandible of the 
beak and the eye, the throat, the base of the tail- 
feathers, that of the quills, with the lower parts of 
the body and the abdomen pure white : the feathers 
on the top of the head are brown, edged with red : 
the neck and breast are clear ashy-red : the feathers 
of the back and scapulars are dusky, surrounded by a 
red margin : the wing-coverts are grey, edged and 
