52 WADING BIRDS. 



BLACK-NECKED STILT. 



HiMANTOPUS MEXICANUS. 



Char. Legs bright pink and exceedingly long; bill black, slender, 

 and longer than the head; crown, back of neck, back, and wings black; 

 forehead, patch over the eyes, throat, and under parts white. Length 

 about 15 inches. 



Nest. On marshy margin of stream or pond ; a slight depression in 

 the turf, lined with dry grass. Sometimes — if the ground is very wet — a 

 high platform is built, of weed-stems and twigs. 



Eggs. 3-4 ; pale olive or greenish buff, spotted with brownish black ; 

 size exceedingly variable, average about 1.75 X i-20. 



The Black-necked Stilt is common to many parts of South 

 as well as North America ; it is known at any rate to inhabit 

 the coast of Cayenne, Jamaica, and Mexico. In the United 

 States it is seldom seen but as a straggler as far to the north 

 as the latitude of 41°. About the 25th of April, according 

 to Wilson, the Stilts arrive on the coast of New Jersey in 

 small flocks of twenty or thirty together. These again sub- 

 divide into smaller parties, but they still remain gregarious 

 through the breeding-season. Their favorite residence is in 

 the higher and more inland parts of the greater salt-marshes, 

 which are interspersed and broken up with shallow pools, not 

 usually overflowed by the tides during summer. In these 

 places they are often seen wading up to the breast in water, 

 in quest of the larvae, spawn, flies, and insects which constitute 

 their food. 



In the vicinity of these bare places, among thick tufts of 

 grass, small associations of six or eight pair take up their 

 residence for the breeding-season. They are, however, but 

 sparingly dispersed over the marshes, selecting their favorite 

 spots, while in large intermediate tracts few or none are to be 

 seen. Early in May they begin to make their nests, which 

 are at first slightly formed of a mere layer of old grass, just 

 sufficient to keep the eggs from the moisture of the marsh ; in 

 the course of incubation, however, either to guard against the 

 rise of the tides, or for some other purpose, the nest is in- 



