Godwit

Godwit (Limosa), a universally distributed genus of Scolopacidee. The species are not unlike curlews, but the bill has a slight upward, instead of a downward, curve. The females are larger than the males. They frequent marshes and estuaries, and feed in snipe-fashion by plunging their bills into the mud in search of worms and molluscs. Two species are English visitors: the black-tailed (L. belyica), and the bar-tailed godwit (L. lapponica). The former used to breed in England.