342 
SCOLOPACIDiE. 
GRALLATORES. 
SCOLOPACIDJi. 
BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 
Limosa melanura. 
PLATE XCIII. 
The Black-tailed Godwit breeds occasionally, though 
sparingly, in the fens of Cambridgeshire, and some of the 
marshy districts of Norfolk, and in situations similar to 
those which are chosen by the rulf. They arrive in March, 
and commence early in May to lay their eggs, which are 
four in number, and, as will be seen by the Plate, differ 
considerably in size and colouring; some of them are of 
a uniform tint throughout, and almost spotless; others 
have the surface sprinkled with small, but distinctly 
marked spots. Mr. Hoy informed me, in a letter which 
I received from him on his return from the Continent in 
1836, where he had seen a great variety of the eggs of 
this species, that some of them had scarcely any percep¬ 
tible markings ; that the nest of the Black-tailed Godwit 
is composed of dry grass and other vegetables, and is con¬ 
cealed amongst the coarse herbage of the swamps and 
low meadows; and that the birds, when disturbed, are 
clamorous, flying round the intruder and vociferating the 
cry of grutto, grutto, grutto, from which cry they have 
received their name among the country people in Holland. 
