a short time on the broads and inland waters. Unlike the Black-tailed Godwit, which makes, or rather did
make, breeding-places of those localities, the present bird passes them by and proceeds to the higher
latitudes of Lapland, Siberia, and Russia, in which a few solitary nests have been found; these localities,
however, are, I am sure, merely the outskirts of its summer quarters. To justify this assertion, and to show
that the outskirts only of their breeding-grounds have been entered on, I may state that I have at this moment
before me the sale-list of the duplicate eggs from Mr. Wolley’s collection, in which it is recorded that four
pounds were given for one egg o f this bird, and five pounds for another,—prices which must surely be
considered enormous, and which clearly indicate that the most persevering oologist. has not yet visited the
bird’s true breed ing-quarters.
The Bar-tailed Godwit has two distinct lines of migration—a western one through Europe to Africa, and
an eastern from China, through the Philippines, and across the line to Australia,—the great peninsula of
India, and probably Biirmah, forming a kind o f neutral ground wherein it is seldom seen—so rarely, indeed,
that Mr. Jerdon does not include it in his ‘Birds of India,’ although Mr. Blyth says that, “ as a species
occurring rarely in the Himalaya, it must be added to the Indian list.” The immense range o f the Himalaya
Mountains, as we all know, are backed by almost interminable deserts of high land, forming a barrier over
which either the Godwit or any other southern migrant would seldom attempt to pass.
“ Eggs said to be those o f the Bar-tailed Godwit,” says Mr. Hewitson, “ were brought from the North
by the Rev. J . B. Tristram and also by Mr. Wolley, and with evidence sufficient to justify me ^ f ig u r in g
them. The Bar-tailed Godwit was seen close to the e g g s ; the Black-tailed Godwit was never seen at all.”
Mr. Tristram, referring to the Bar-tailed Godwit, says:—“ I found the bird in Finmark, and shot several
specimens in breeding-plumage, without any trace whatever o f the black tail I got the nest, and shot
the bird, a female,-the same morning, close to the spot, but I did not flush her off the nest. Mr.
Wolley’s eggs corresponded so exactly with mine that we could not distinguish th em ; but they were at
once to be recognized among twenty eggs o f the common Godwit. I have no moral doubt whatever
on the subject, though my evidence does not amount to absolute d em o n s t r a t io nM r . Wolley says this
species breeds in marshes, chiefly in the neighbourhood of mountains, and that it gets up so warily from
its nest that it is difficult to find it.::- The eggs figured are from Rowa, near Kittila, in Finland; I cannot,
however, with Mr.-Tristram, see anything about them to distinguish them from eggs o f the other species;
their close resemblance was to be expected.'
“ Dr. MiddendorfF, who met with this species breeding in numbers on the river Taimyr,‘.-in'Lapland, says
that it was n o t easy to find the eggs, as the birds would leave their nests with loud cries when he was a t a
great distance from them. The eggs are found a t the end of June, two o r three in a nest.” Col. Ill:
E g g s o f B rit. Birds, vol. ii.
“ That the Bar-tailed Godwit breeds in' the neighbourhood o f Quickiock, in Lapland,” remarks Mr.
Wheelwright, “ is pretty certain, although I never found the n e s t; but I fancy that although both the Godwits
may breed here and there, in Lapland they principally do so more to the east. Both species are summer
visitants around Vardol, in Finland. Sommerfelt however, has, never known the egg o f the Bar-tailed to be
taken there, although it breéds near Enara.”
Speaking o f the flight o f the Bar-tailed Godwits, MacGillivray says it is “ moderately rapid, light;
somewhat buoyant, and greatly resembles that of the Curlew, and especially the Whimbrel. They emit a
loud shrill whistle, and on rising utter a lower modulated sound somewhat like that o f th e-b ird ju st
mentioned. Walking for the most part sedately, but sometimes running, they tap and probe the mud and
sands in search o f worms and other small animals, frequently mingling with Sandpipers and Ring-Plovers,
along with -which they often repose on the sands and neighbouring pastures a t high water.”
The number of Godwits that appear in different years varies greatly—but few in some, and many in o th ers;
generally speaking, too, the numbers that are seen in spring are much less than in autumn:
The sexes, like those of the allied species, differ very considerably in size, the female being by far the
largest of the'two.'
The Plate represents the male in his spring dress, and the female in winter, o f the size o f life.