BLACK-TAILED GODWIT.
LIMOS A ALGO CEP HAL A (Linn.).
Scolopax aegocephala, Linn. S. N. i. p. 246 (1766).
Limosa melanura, Naum. viii. p. 406; Hewitson, ii. p. 342.
Limosa aegocephala, Macg. iv. p. 269; Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 488 ;
Dresser, viii. p. 211.
Barge a queue noire, French; Schwarzschwänzige Uferschnepfe,
German; Abujeta, Sarseruelo, Andalucian.
This is one of the many species that formerly bred
in some numbers in the fen-districts of England, but
have become comparatively rare, in some cases extinct,
from the effects of drainage, the persecution of local
sportsmen and depredators, and, I must add, the greed
of collectors and their agents. The excellence of the
flesh and of the eggs of this - Godwit have of course
tended to its extermination as a breeding species in this
country. In the ‘ Althorp Household Books,’ kept
during portions of the 16th and 17th centuries, are
several entries of high prices paid for “ Yarwhelps ”—a
local eastern-county name for this bird, still in use
amongst the marsh-men; and a fat Godwit has for
centuries been accounted as one of the daintiest dishes