Genus LIMOSA. 
Bill very long, slightly recurved, the tip slender and flattened, the base high, and the culmen 
rounded there ; nostrils linear, placed close to the margin, and slightly advanced from the gape ; 
both mandibles grooved at the sides from the base to the tip. Wings long, the 1st quill the 
longest. Tail short and even. Legs long, the tibia bare much above the knee. Tarsus covered 
in front with transverse scales. Toes moderate, the hind toe well developed ; outer and middle toe 
connected at the base by a web ; middle claw dilated, recurved , and pectinated on its inner edge. 
Summer plumage differing from that of winter. 
LIMOSA iEGOCEPHALA. 
(THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT.) 
Scolopax cegocephala , Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 246 (1766). 
Scolopax limosa , Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 666 (1788). 
Limosa melanura, Leisler, Nachtr. Bechst. ii. pp. 150, 157 (1811-15); Gould, B. of Eur. iv. 
pi. 305 (1837) ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 50 (1873). 
Limosa cegocephala (L.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 268 (1849) ; Von Middendorff 
Sibir. Eeise, ii. p. 218 (1853) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 265 ; Jerdon’ 
B. of Ind. iii. p. 681 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 473; Shelley, B. of Egypt’ 
?. (1872), Sharpe & Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 15 (1872); Ilume, Str. Feath. 1873, 
p. 235 ; Yon Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1153 (1874) ; Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 169 
(1875); Oates, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 346 ; Butler & Hume, ibid. 1876, p. 16 ; Seebohm 
& Harvie Brown, Ibis, 1876, p. 202; Blanford, Zool. Persia, p. 283 (1876); Ramsay, 
Ibis, 1877, p. 469 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 460 ; Cripps, ibid. vii. 
p. 302 ; Hume, t. c. p. 486 ; id. ibid. 1879 (List of Ind. B.), p. 112, 
La grande Barge rousse , Buffon, PI. Enl. 916; JadreJca Snipe; Bed Godwit, Lath.; Small 
Godwit of some. Gairiya also Burra ChaKa, Hind. ; Jaurali, Bengal. ; Tondu ulanka , 
Telegu (Jerdon) ; Tchibib, Moorish (Favier) ; Abujeta, Andalucia (Irby) ; El agdt, 
Biga or Biqa el Sultani, Arabic (Von Heuglin). 
Adult female (Sambhur). “ Length 15-8 inches ” (Adam) ; wing (imperfect) 8-2 ? ; tail 3-5 ; tarsus 3'0 ; 
middle toe 1’45, its claw 0-4 ; bill at front 4-0. 
bare tibia 2-0 ; 
Adult male (Asia Minor), 
front 4*1. 
Wing 8-4 inches ; tail 3-0 ; bare tibia 1-8 ; tarsus 3-1 ; middle toe with claw 1-8 ; bill at 
° is - f species vanes very much in size. Females as a rule are larger than males. A series of Furreednore 
examples measured by Mr Cripps range, in the wing from 7-5 to 7-92 inches, in the tarsus from 2-75 to 3 08 
m the bill, at front from 3-6 to 4-39, and in weight from 8-6 to 12-12 oz. Except in the latter point, the margin 
ol difference is not so great here; but elsewhere, in ‘ The Ibis,’ 1873, Messrs. Alston aud Harvie Brown notice 
a specimen in the Archangel Museum with the wing 9-0 inches, tarsus 3-8, bill to gape 4-87. 
Ins dark brown ; bill fleshy red, darkening to brown at the tip, the culmen brownish ; legs and feet blackish. 
Winter plumage (Sambhur). Head, hind neck, interscapulars, scapulars, tertials, and median wing-coverts pale earthy 
