SCOLOPACIDiE — THE SNIPE FAMILY — LIMOSA. 
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recorded from Cambridgeshire, Northumberland, and from the vicinity of Solway 
Firth. Living specimens are occasionally brought from Holland to England ; and 
the bird, in a semi-domestic state, is not infrequently confined in walled gardens, 
where it makes a very interesting and amusing pet. Others are fatted for the market 
with bread and milk, as is also done with the Buff ; but the Godwit is not equal in 
flavor to the latter when thus treated. 
The Godwit is found during the summer in Denmark ; and it also visits, in con- 
siderable numbers, various parts of Scandinavia, and especially Lapland, going as far 
north as Iceland, and occasionally to Greenland. In the more southern countries of 
the European continent it is exclusively seen in spring and autumn. It is quite com- 
mon in Spain ; and living specimens were sent to the Zoological Garden from Tangier, 
where it was said to be not uncommon, besides others from Tunis and different local- 
ities in North Africa. According to Schinz (“Fauna Helvetica”), this bird is occa- 
sionally seen, as a migrant, in Switzerland ; and not infrequently a pair is supposed 
to remain and nest, as birds are from time to time taken in their summer plumage. 
In May it passes north through Italy and Genoa, and returns, reinforced in numbers, 
in the month of August. It is said to be rare in Sicily, but is more common at Malta, 
during its migrations. Specimens have been taken in Tripoli ; and the Zoological 
Society received a young bird of the year from Trebizond. Hohenacker, a Russian 
naturalist, mentions this species among the birds obtained by him in the vicinity of 
the Caucasus; Mr. Hodgson includes it among those found in Nepal, and Mr. Blyth 
in the list of those occurring at Calcutta. Mr. Temminck also states that it may be 
found in Japan and on the Isles of Sunda. 
According to M. Gerbe, this species has been observed at different seasons in 
nearly every portion of Europe, Asia, and Africa. In France it is a regular bird of 
passage in autumn, and again in spring, passing north in March and April, and mov- 
ing south in September and October. Many of these birds are snared in the spring, 
between Douai and Cambrai, and kept within gardens enclosed by walls ; but the 
greater number of them perish during the winter for want of suitable food. The 
same author adds that this species nests in damp meadows, in the grass, or among 
the reeds. Its eggs are four in number, rounded at one end, pyriform in shape, and 
quite variable in regard to shades of color. Generally they have a deep olive ground, 
with points and blotches of a russet, or a pale brown color. Some of these are of a 
very deep shade, others are very faint. These markings are more numerous, larger, 
and more confluent about the larger end. M. Gerbe possessed varieties of this egg, 
some of which had a reddish-white and some a yellowish-wliite ground ; while in 
others it was of a very pale green color. Some are profusely sprinkled with spots of 
an intensely deep coloring, and again others are of a uniformly ashy gray, and 
are entirely unspotted. He gives their greater diameter as varying from 53 to Cl 
millimetres, and the smaller from 37 to 40. 
According to Hewitson, the Black-tailed Godwit begins to lay its eggs early 
in May. Its nest is composed of dry grass and other vegetables, and is concealed 
among the coarse herbage of the swamps and low meadows. The eggs, four in num- 
ber, he describes as of a light olive brown, blotched and spotted with darker brown, 
their length 2.17 inches and their breadth 1.50 inches, and in form they are decidedly 
pear-shaped. 
In addition, we learn from the observations of Dr. L. Taczanowski, of Warsaw, as 
quoted by Dresser, that large numbers of this bird breed in marshy localities on the 
eastern side of the Vistula. In the spring, as soon as the snow disappears, this bird 
arrives in the marshes, and frequents their edges. It begins to breed early m May, 
vol. i. — 34 
