LIMOSA.
Bill long, slightly recurved towards tip; toes webbed at base ; frequent coasts or inland marshes ; gregarious ; eggs 4, pyriform, in depression, dull greenish indistinctly blotched with brown and olivaceous.
Limosa, lapponica. lapponica (L.). BAR-TAILED GODWIT. Fr. Barge rousse ; Ger. Rostrote Uferschnepfe ; Ita7. Pittima minore ; Swed. Myrspofv.
summer. Head and hind neck chestnut, streaked brown, back and scapulars dark brown with chestnut streaks ; lower back and rump white, sometimes with few brown marks ; upper tail coverts white with brown bars ; wing coverts and quills with white margins ; tail barred white and brown ; beneath chestnut, under wing coverts and axillaries white barred brown. Iris brown. Bill black, flesh colour at base. Legs and feet black. Wing 210-226. Tarsus 50-57. Bill 76-106. In winter : above dark brown with paler margins ; beneath white, pale huffy brown on foreneck and chest with darker shaft streaks ; in and young, tail beneath distinctly barred brown and white ; in tail grey brown irregularly barred or marked with white.
Breeds.—N. Scandinavia, Finland, N. Russia ; also N. Asia. Winters on Atlantic Coasts from Britain south to Senegal, - Mediterranean Basin, and in W. Asia and N.E. Africa.
Limosa limosa limosa (L.). BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. Fr. Barge a queue noire ; Ger. Schwarzschwanzige Uferschnepfe ; //a/. Pittima ; Swed. Rodspof.
summer. Above not unlike "lapponica" but lower back uniform brown, upper tail coverts white and tail black, both without bars, much more white on wing coverts and quills ; beneath rufous clay colour, barred black on breast ; abdomen white. d Wing 202-212. Tarsus 73-83. Bill So-t to. ? larger. Wing 217-230. Tarsus 85-93. Bill to 126 (II.). In winter : above uniform grey brown, also throat and foreneck below, rest of underparts white. Young are like winter adults, but darker brown above, with rufous margins.
Breeds.—Iceland, Faroes, Belgium, Holland, Baltic Countries, Poland, Hungary, S. Russia north to Moscow, also \V. Siberia. Winters British Isles (few), Mediterranean, N. Africa and \V. Asia.