Winter.—During the winter months these godwits either haunt the seashore, displaying special preference for low-lying coasts where extensive areas of mud flats are exposed at low tide, or else are to be found where there are large marshes along the edges of lakes, and less frequently by the banks of rivers. On the open coasts and the Spanish marismas they are subject to a good deal of persecution from the larger falcons, especially the peregrine, which greatly appreciates them as an article of diet. Lord Lilford describes the great flocks of these godwits on the lower reaches of the Guadalquiver as spreading out into long lines or gathering into dense masses like starlings or dunlins, when trying to avoid the attentions of their long-winged enemies.
DISTRIBUTION
Breeding range.—In Iceland it is very local, being confined to the low-lying country in the southwest (Arnes and Rangarvalla-Sysla), where it breeds in fair numbers; Faroes (only once definitely recorded); formerly in the British Isles from Yorkshire to Norfolk, but extinct as a breeding species since 1847, unless a possible Lincolnshire record for 1885 is accepted; Belgium, Holland, and its islands, West Jutland, North Germany, locally in South Sweden, Hungary, Poland, the Baltic Republics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia); in Russia, according to Buturlin, it breeds in the governments of St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Moscow, Riazan, on the Volga south to the mouth of the Kama, in the Ufa and Perm governments north to 60° N. In western Asia it nests in the Tobolsk government. The Irtysh Valley, Baraba Steppe, and locally in Turkestan, but the exact limits of this and the smaller eastern race (L. l. melanuroides Gould) are not yet defined.
Winter range.—The main winter quarters of this species are in the Mediterranean region, the coasts of North Africa, and the Nile Valley, the marshes of Iraq and the Indian Peninsula east of Burma. It has been recorded from the Azores, Maderia, and the Canaries; is common in suitable localities along the North African littoral from Morocco through Algeria and Tunisia to Egypt, and has been recorded from the Egyptian Sudan, Kordofan, and Abyssinia, and exceptionally as far South as Natal. In Asia it ranges to the Persian Gulf, the Indian Peninsular, but scarce in the south, Ceylon, Burma, etc., while the eastern race visits the islands of Malaysia and ranges to Australia.
Spring migration.—The northward movement from Morocco takes place in February and March and it appears in Andalusia in February (late date April 6). In Corsica it has been noted as late as April 23 and on passage, Malta, March 24-25. In Tunisia it is most plentiful in February and March, and does not stay in Egypt after March (late date April 7). It also stays in the plains of northern India until March (late date Delhi, May 25). It passes through Portugal in February and March; Italy in March and April; Greece (February 10, March 7, etc.); Montenegro, large flock March 17-25; Bulgaria (March 10-31, flock of 200 on April 1).
Fall migration.—The southward bound hosts arrive in Andalusia in August-September, but in Portugal, though a few appear in September, most pass in October. In north Italy the earliest arrival dates from the end of July, and in the Balkan Peninsular and the passage lasts from September to November (early date August 18, Bulgaria, late date November 13, Bulgaria), reaching Egypt in October. At the Euphrates marshes it arrives early in August and reaches India in October (early date, Nepal, September 7).
Egg dates.—In Holland and Germany the first eggs may be found in the last 10 days of April and early May, but as they are largely taken for the market at that time, many sets in collections are second and even third layings. Seven records, April 18-30; 10 records, May 1-10; 12 records, May 11-20; 8 records, May 21-25. In Jutland breeding is rather later; six records May 10-15; and still later in Iceland, six records, May 23-June 2.
GLOTTIS NEBULARIA (Gunnerus)
GREENSHANK
Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain