170 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



A hind toe present, but very small; the three front toes fully webbed. Rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, and entire under parts pure white, as are also the middle of the back, the 

 outer scapulars, about half the secondaries, and the terminal half of the greater wing- 

 coverts; the rest of' the wings, the inner scapulars, and a stripe on each side of back, 

 brownish-black; tail ashy. In summer the adult has most of the head and the entire neck 

 and upper breast pale cinnamon; in winter these parts are pure white, or bluish or grayish- 

 white. Yoimg birds resemble winter adults, but the primaries are tipped with whitish, 

 the back more or less mottled with brownish or buff, and the back of neck washed with 

 rusty. Length 15.50 to 18.75 inches;' wing 8.50 to 9; culmen 3.40 to 3.65; tarsus 3.70 to 

 3.80 (Ridgway). 



90. Stilt. Himantopus mexicanus (Mull). (226) 



Synonyms: Black-necked Stilt, Lawyer. — Charadrius mexicanus Miill., 1776. — Him- 

 antopus nigricoUis, Vieill., Nutt., Aud., Baird.^ — Recurvirostra himantopus, Wilson, 1813. 



Known at once by the extremely long legs, pure white under parts and 

 black back, the back of the neck also clear black. 



Distribution. — Temperate North America, from the Northern United 

 States southward to the West Indies, northward to Brazil and Peru. Rare 

 in the eastern United States except in Florida. 



An extremely rare bird in Michigan; and I know of no Michigan specimen 

 in any collection. It is included in Stockwell's list of Michigan birds (Forest 

 & Stream, VIII, 22, 361), but no specific instance of its occurrence is given. 

 Covert (marginal notes in Coues Key) records a specimen from Sand Shore 

 Lake, Ann Arbor, October 14, 1880; and D. D. Hughes (MS. Orn. of Mich.) 

 says that "a Mr. Metcalf, of Grand Rapids, Kent county, secured a specimen 

 near there, and has seen others on two occasions" (Gibbs). 



While looking over specimens in the store of F. R. Vigeant at Sault Ste. 

 Marie, July 10, 1903, Mr. Vigeant told me that he killed a pair of Black- 

 necked Stilts on the shore near St. Ignace, on the Straits of Mackinac, 

 "several years ago,'.' and that he afterwards sold them, mounted to a 

 gentleman in Ohio, whose address he gave me. A letter to that address 

 was returned unclaimed, and I was unable to trace the specimens. In 

 Wisconsin, according to Kumlien and HoUister, "this species is a very rare 

 straggler, the only record being that of Dr. Hoy, who states that he met 

 a small flock near Racine in April, 1847. The single specimen preserved 

 in his collection was probably taken at this time" (Birds of Wisconsin, 

 p. 42). In Ohio, according to Lynds Jones (Birds of Ohio, 1903, 65) there 

 are some old records by Dr. Wheaton and Dr. Langdon, but nothing since 

 1879. Butler, in his Birds of Indiana, 1897, does not mention the species 

 at all. 



The Stilt is a bird of the west and south, where it is not uncommon, 

 being particularly abundant about the alkaline lakes and pools of the Great 

 Basin, where it is often seen in company with the Avocet. It breeds, at 

 least occasionally, in the Gulf States and Mexico, and the eggs are olive or 

 drab, spotted and blotched with very dark brown, and averaging 1.79 by 

 1.23 inches. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



No hind toe; a small web between outer and middle toes only. Plumage clear black 

 (or slaty black in female) and pure white, in large, sharply defined areas. Adult male: 

 Top of head,' back of neck, back, scapulars' and wings, continuous"decp black, sometimes 

 with a greenish cast; forehead, rump, upper tail-coverts, and entire under parts from chin 

 to tail, pure white; tail ashy; iris red; legs and feet rose-color or crimson. Female; 



