the first quill-feather, which is the longest in the wing, nine
inches ; length of the- tarsiis three inches ; of the naked part
above, one inch and three quarters.
The male in summer .has the beak black for half its-length
from the point, the basal half pale o r a n g ç irides hazel ;
from the gape to the eye a dark streak produced by small
black Spots'on feathers of a reddish brown ; over this and
aroundr-the eye.aring- of pale brown ; <top^©f^the head and
the-ear-cövérts reddish brown streaked witfrblack ; the meek)
all'round, before and behind, a reddish sföwn colour; | f e tfear
them on the back in spring become dark brown, almost-black
at «the base and on the- centre ; the. ends, which were of an
ash colour in winter, become -rufous by-/degrees till: the
darker feathers "with reddish margins ■ pervade the“ whole of
the;'back : th e „ wing-primaries arefîfnore decidedly,i^lack,
the ? white-• coloured portion mqrUt pure . and ) conspicuous ;
the tail ■ the same| at all seasons ' tie r breast white, barred
across w ith ‘rufous brown and *dark$prb^h4 the thighs) and
belly mq|é Sparingly barredrwith-dark brown only;“, vcn’t and
finder tail-eoverts-white.»;:“ legs, ^fo'esc and claws, brownish
black.
Whole length of^a, male sixteen inch^s.l_beak- alone three
inches and à quarter. .
Young birds, of tfièVyear arfe • during)th©M first autumn
tinged with red ' on the neck, 1 and maj|É|Aeî distinguished
throughout their first winter from old birds by their smaller
size;:I and by*the ash brown tint which 'pervades>théir neck
hnd.the upper part of the brèàst : thë.white of the lower part
of the’breast is also clouded with ash-grey. .
T H E BAR-TAILED GODWIT.
St.olopax cegocephala, - • Godwit Snipe, P e n n . Brit. Zoól.iVol. ii. p. 47.
„ , , Common^ Godwjtt, M o n t . Grnith. D i e t .
yiomomyxcensis, Red breasted Snipje, ,, Suppt.
H M , , | B e w ic k , Brit. Birds; vól. ii. p. 61.
.. sf: °(Kgocephcilïi:,i\ ^ .-The. Go'dwitf- -', , ,, „ „ p. 64,
TuJ'q, Ear-tailed Godwit, F l e m . Brit. An. p. 107.
• M Real , „ S e l b y , B r i t . O r n i t h . V o l. i i . p . 9 8 .
■ ■ H H H g rBifr-tailed , , J e n y n s ,: B r i t . ' V e r t . p . 2 0 2 .
> "w a „ „ . „ G o u l d , Birds of Europe, pt. xv.
* i, ' IW ’ Barge rousse, * T e m m . Man.d’Ornith. vol. ii.p. 668.
T he Bab-trailed Godwit is in its-habits in this country^
very-similar to the Black-tailed Godwit last described,
with two exceptions;' the Bar-tailed Godwit very rarely, if
0 ^,lremains to breedy and more frequently' stops with us
through the winter. In Ireland, Mr. Thompson tells me, it