THE COMMON OR BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 
229 
previously been obtained within about twenty years (April 8, 
1837). On the 12th of March, 1845, three were seen; and on 
the 6th of that month, in 1846, a flock of from twenty to 
thirty birds, seven of which, killed at a shot, were brought to me. 
In Strangford Lough, they have already been noticed as seen in 
March ; one was shot there, near Kirkcubbin, from a large flock . 
early in April 1849. How long they generally remain in this 
lough I am unable to state ; the information given respecting the 
locality being derived merely from persons visiting it at the 
periods mentioned. 
Two specimens of the Limosa rufa which came under my 
examination — one shot on the 8th of April, 1837, in Belfast 
Bay, and the other (a female) near Dublin, on the 29th of May, 
1838 — were both in winter plumage; no indication of a reddish 
feather appearing. One killed in Belfast Bay, so late as the 15th 
of October, was in nearly full summer attire, the under side of 
the neck, the breast, and thence to the point of the tail on the 
under side, being red; the only indication of a change to winter 
dress being exhibited in an intermixture of a few white feathers 
with the red on the tliroat. 
The size of the godwit, like that of other Grallatores, is 
very variable. Seven birds, killed at the same time, on the 6th 
of March, differed much in this respect, and, on dissection, all 
the small ones proved to be males, and the large ones females ; 
the bills of the latter, from forehead to point, were from four to 
four and a quarter inches long. Others, which I have killed, 
exceeded four and a half inches; — a young bird of the year, 
obtained on the 24th of August, had a bill only two inches in 
length. At the end of October I once shot a godwit of little 
more than half the ordinary weight, and hardly exceeding a grey 
plover in size. 
Of the gizzards of three godwits examined by me, one contained 
the remains of vegetable ; another of soft animal food ; the third 
was almost wholly filled with gravel, which, together with frag- 
ments of shell, was in the others also. 
