EASTERN BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 
Breeding-season. July (Siberia, Middendorff). 
“ Breeds in Eastern Siberia as far south as Kamchatka (perhaps Commander 
Islands) shores of Okhotsk Sea, Baikal, and as far west as upper Yenisei Valley 
(rare).”* 
Mr. J. P. Rogers found these birds very wild and not plentiful in the North- 
west of Australia. 
Captain S. A. White saw some on the Capricorn Island, ofi Queensland, 
in company with L, haueri. 
Mr. J. W. MeUor shot a specimen at the above islands. In their habits 
they were the same as the next species, and rather wary of approach, especially 
when the tide was out, at which time they came to feed on the shore. 
Middendorff {Sibiriche Beise, p. 218, 1851) found them nesting on the 
Great Schantar Island, and by August 11th the young were fuUy grown. 
Radde {Beisen Suden von Ost-Sibir., p. 331, 1863), says : “ When large 
flocks of this bird arrived on the Tarei Nor on May 12th, 1856, they were so 
shy that we could not approach within gunshot of them. In a flock which 
numbered over one hundred, pairs of birds were observed in fierce combat ; 
probably the males fighting for the females. The birds soon disappeared, 
and were not again noticed on the Tarei Nor during the summer. In 
the autumn they returned in large numbers. They assembled round 
Altansk on July 30th, with their young which were not grown enough 
for the migration. 
“ On July 31st, large flocks were found on the shores of Lake Dshindagatai. 
On August 12th they migrated from the Tarei Nor. Although this bird has 
not been recorded from Amurland there can be no doubt that it visits that 
district.” 
The bird figured and described is a male, collected at Parry’s Creek, 
North-west Australia, on November 6th, 1908, by Mr. J. P. Rogers. 
Though most careful workers had recognised the differences between 
the Eastern and Western forms of Limosa limosa, Sharpe, in the Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., p. 381, 1896, lumped them, stating that though the 
differences mentioned by previous authors were observed by him, he did not 
deem it necessary to recognise the Eastern bird even as a subspecies. 
Receipt of specimens from North-west Australia induced me to make 
comparisons, and in the Emu, Vol. IX., 1909, pp. 3 and 28, I rejected Sharpe’s 
conclusion and would here give some of the data obtained. 
The majority of specimens in the British Museum came from India, being 
part of the imrivalled Hume collection. These undoubtedly show both races, 
but if the whole of the birds from Europe and Africa were sorted out 
* Buturlin, Emu, Vol. XI., p. 97, 1911. 
189 
