LIMOSA RUFA.
Bar-tailed Godwit.

Scolopax Lapponica, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 62.

Limosa rufa, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 1815, p. 432.

Fedoa rufa, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. De Wie
Scolopax leucophea, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. Da allgy

Limicula Lapponica, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat., tom. iil. p- 250.
Totanus leucopheus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. pa 2oue
—— gregarwus, Bechst. ibid. p. 258. :

Limosa ferruginea, Pall. Zoogr. Ross.-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 180.

Meyeri, Leisl. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. ii. pe 72,
——— Noveboracensis, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus). pio.
Fedoa Meyeri, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. Dado.

—— pectoralis, Steph. ibid. p. 79.
Actitis limosa, Ill. Prod. Mamm. et Av., p. 262.
Limosa lapponica, G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 570, Limosa, Spe a

 

Tue above long list of synonyms will show how much attention this well-known species bas received from
ornithologists; I trust, however, that it will not be encumbered with an additional name, and that the
appropriate one of rufa will in future be retained as the specific appellation of the bird ; Lapponica is certainly
inappropriate, whatever may be its claims to priority; for the bird is not confined to Lapland, but is perhaps
more generally dispersed than any other species of the genus.

If we take a glance at the northern regions of the Old World, as displayed on a map or an artificial globe,
we see a few degrees to the eastward of the North Cape, between 70° and 75’ N. lat., the island of Nova
Zembla, standing out boldly in the [cy Sea; looking further east, we find the mainland of Siberia extending
to a still higher latitude. These, and other parts of Siberia, with the interminable marshes and moorlands
which skirt the rivers of that great country running into the Icy Ocean, from the sea of Kara, in the west,
to Behring’s Straits, in the east, northern Lapland and Finmark, are, probably, the great nurseries of the
Bar-tailed Godwit ; and it is to those countries that the individuals which winter in Europe, China, and
Japan most likely retire for the purpose of reproduction ; I speak of Europe and China conjointly, because
I think that the migratory movements of the birds may take place simultaneously in both those parts of the
globe, and I may almost venture to assert that the individuals which return to Europe in the autumn have
been breeding in Lapland, Finmark, and Nova Zembla. Some of these western Godwits winter with us
in the British Islands, others on the estuaries of the rivers and sea-shores of the Continent ; others, again,
cross the Mediterranean, and distribute themselves in all favourable situations throughout Africa. The same
influence, I have no doubt, affects the Chinese and Japanese examples which have bred in eastern Siberia ; for
they do not all stop in that country, but, like the western birds, impulsively seek a warmer climate, some
individuals, I believe, extending their range, through the Philippine and all the intervening islands, to the
continent of Australia, and even to Tasmania, on the shores of which island, in all suitable localities, 1 found
numerous examples in their grey attire, but none in the red or breeding-dress. In asserting that it visits
Australia I may be accused of discrepancy, since in my folio work on the birds of that country, and in my
Handbook on the same subject, I treated the southern and northern Bar-tailed Godwits as distinct species ;
but I now believe them to be identical, and that the greater and less amount of spotting on the rump is a
character not to be wholly depended upon. _ If this latter view be correct, how widely does this bird range!
and how distant does it wander from its breeding-place ! Young birds generally wander further from their
birth-place than adults; and hence it probably is that we never see an Australian example in the red
dress, which may not be acquired until the bird is on its return to the place in which it was bred.

Over Britain the dispersion of the Bar-tailed Godwit is very general; and wherever a tidal estuary or a
low flat beach occurs, there it is sure to be found during the months of autumn. In the spring great
accessions to those which have wintered with us take place, particularly on our eastern coasts, the
additions mainly consisting of birds en route from more southern countries. They are now in their finest
dress, having exchanged the grey plumage of winter for the rich chestnut livery of the approaching nuptial

: : x » snr] P > ir me Se iper is tr i
season; when thus attired in all the freshness of the spring moult, the bird, for a Sandpiper, is truly

beautiful. May is the month in which they pass over Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, resting there for