oS ee

 

LIMOSA MELANURA.
Black-tailed Godwit.

Scolopax lmosa, Linn. Faun. Suec., p- 61.

Totanus limosa et rufus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. pp. 244, 253.

Limosa melanura, Leis]. Nacht. zu Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. ii. pp. 150, 157.
Limicula melanura, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat., tom. iii. p. 250.

Scolopax egocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 246.

——~ belgica, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., p. 663.

Totanus egocephalus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl., tom. iv. p. 234.

Fedoa melanura, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii. pe vs:

Limosa jadreca, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mug p 32
agocephala, Leach, ibid., p. 34.

islandica, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., Pp 626.

 

 

 

In England we have two Godwits with very distinctive characters, which at a glance may be distinguished
at any age one from the other; and it would be well if the trivial names of Black-tailed and Bar-tailed and
the specific ones of melanura and rufa should be always retained for these well-known birds. It will, however,
be seen by the above list of synonyms that Gmelin called the present species delgica, Leach Jadreca, Linneeus
and Bechstein @gocephala; by most modern ornithologists, however, the term melanura is employed ; and I
accordingly adopt it.

Where a bird breeds, or has for centuries bred, that country must be regarded as the home of the species }
Britain therefore is one of the homes of the Black-tailed Godwit. The Rey. Mr. Lubbock, when speaking
of the marsh-birds in his ‘ Fauna of Norfolk,’ says :—“ Vive species in particular used to swarm in our
marshes—the Godwit, the Ruff, the Lapwing, the Redshank, and the Black Tern. These last bred in
countless multitudes in a large alder-carr at Upton, near Acle, and dispersed themselves over the country
for miles, while the Redshank in the breeding-season flew dashing around the head of any intruders on his
territories, and endeavoured, like a Lapwing, to mislead strangers from the nest ; higher in the air and flying
in bolder circles, uttering a louder note was the Black-tailed Godwit, called provincially ‘ the Shrieker,’
from its piercing cries. The bird is now almost extinct in this part of Norfolk ; it used to breed at Buck-
enham, Thyrne, Horsey, and one or two other places.” Lubbock’s book was published in 1845; the interval
that has since elapsed has not, as might have been expected, enabled other writers to add to the list of the
breeding-places of the birds spoken of ; and if either of them have bred in the localities mentioned it is
certainly not the Black-tailed Godwit, the draining of the meres and the increase of the gunners preventing
it from continuing to do so.

Whether associations be handed down among birds as among human beings, we know not; but, although
the Godwit is no longer permitted to breed in the marsby districts of our eastern coast, it as regularly pays
them a visit as the season runs round, and the bird is accordingly frequently seen and killed during the
vernal and autumnal periods of the year in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire. The low shores of all the
estuaries of England, Scotland, and Ireland having muddy flats are also visited by it. It must still breed in
Holland ; for its eges form a considerable article of trade between that country and Leadenhall Market,
where they may frequently be seen in the month of May exposed for sale, like those of the Lapwing, for
the purposes of the table: their numbers, however, are becoming less and less every year 3 and probably the
time is not far distant when the marshes of Holland and Friesland, like those of England, may not be tenanted
by the Black-tailed Godwit.

In Ireland it appears never to breed ; for although Thompson states that it now ane then occurs there in
great numbers, he makes no allusion to its nesting. That it speedily becomes habituated to the neoteaints
of captivity is certain. ‘ During my visits to the Gardens of the Zoological Society, in the Regent’s Park,
London, in May and June 1839,” says Thompson, “ the sight of eleven of hese birds in one of the in-
closures always gratified me. The first day I saw them was very warm. ay were al standing in the
same position, on one leg, with the other tucked up so as to be wholly invisible, the bill aes in the
feathers, and the eyes closed. The next day that I went was equally fine, au the hour of my au the same ;
but they were all actively moving about, and calling as if on the eNiouie: They appeared quite happy: It
was interesting to observe their natural habit of driving the point of the bill into their soft ie) eas
ground, here exemplified by several of them at the same moment probing the layer of aay with whi le
floor of their residence was covered. On my third visit the day was very cold in the shade, aud the wiud
easterly. They all had their bills wholly buried in their dorsal plumage, and most of them bad their eyes