106 Birds of Colorado 



dimensions but in colour and shape. Dille gives June 

 12th as an average date for fresh eggs ; Henshaw at 

 San Luis Lakes found by June 21st most of the eggs 

 already hatched, but Goss took a clutch of four at the 

 same place as late as July 5th. 



Genus HIMANTOPUS. 



Bill very long, slender and pointed, about twice as long as the middle 

 toe and claw ; tail short ; legs very long, stretching far beyond the 

 wings and tail ; tarsus about three times the length of the middle toe 

 and claw, covered with a fine netv.ork of hexagonal scales ; hind toe 

 absent, front toes moderate, basally webbed. 



An almost cosmopolitan genus with about seven species ; only one 

 is found in Xorth America. 



Black-necked Stilt. Himantopus mexicanus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 226 — Colorado Records — Henshaw 75, p. 450 ; 

 Drew 81, p. 18 ; Morrison 89, p. 167 ; Cooke 97, p. 64 ; Henderson 

 03, p. 234 ; 09, p. 227 ; Rockwell 08, p. 159 ; Felger 09, p. 287 ; 

 Hersey & Rockwell 09, p. 115. 



Description. — Adult female — Above, including the crown, sides of the 

 face round the eye, back of the neck, centre of the back and mngs, 

 glossy black ; below, including the front of the face, a spot above and 

 behind the eye, riunp and upper tail-coverts white ; tail pearly-grey ; 

 iris red, bill black, legs red drying yellow. Length 14-0 ; wing 8-5 ; 

 tail 2-4 ; cuknen 2-3 ; tarsus 3-9. 



The male is rather larger — wing 9-25 ; culmen 2-70. Young birds 

 have the upper-parts ashy-brown, the feathers margined with bufiy 

 or whitish, and the tail with dusky markings. 



Distribution. — Breeding chieflj' from Minnesota and Oregon to Florida 

 and Texas, south in winter as far as Peru and the West Indies. 



The Stilt is api^arently a rare bird in Colorado, except in the south. 

 It was first found nesting in the State by Henshaw at the San Luis 

 Lakes many years ago, and the only other definite notices of its occur- 

 rence are those of Rockwell, who quotes Miss Eggleston to the effect 

 that it is an irregular and rather rare migi'ant at Grand Junction, and 

 of Hersey and Rockwell who once saw it at Barr. Neither Gale, Carter 

 nor G. W. Smith mentions it, nor does it ajipear to reach Wyoming. 

 Henderson's Boulder record seems a doubtful one, but there is an 

 example in the State Historical Society's Collection at Denver, shot 

 near Fort Logan in April, 1899 (Felger). 



