LONG-LEGGED AYOSET. 23 



aquatic insects and their larvae, besides the eggs and spawn of others 

 deposited in the soft mud below, these birds find here an abundant 

 supply of food, and are almost continually seen wading about in such 

 places, often up to the breast in water. 



In the vicinity of these hald places, as they are called by the country 

 people, and at the distance of forty or fifty yards off, among the thick 

 tufts of grass, one of these small associations, consisting perhaps of 

 six or eight pair, takes up its residence during the breeding season. 

 About the first week in May they begin to construct their nests, which 

 are at first slightly formed of a small quantity of old grass, scarcely 

 sufficient to keep the eggs from the wet marsh. As they lay and sit, 

 however, either dreading the rise of the tides, or for some other purpose, 

 the nest is increased in height, with dry twigs of a shrub very common 

 in the marshes, roots of the salt grass, seaweed, and various other sub- 

 stances, the whole weighing between two and three pounds. This habit 

 of adding materials to the nest, after the female begins sitting, is com- 

 mon to almost all other birds that breed in the marshes. The eggs are 

 four in number, of a dark yellowish clay color, thickly marked with 

 large blotches of black. These nests are often placed within fifteen or 

 twenty yards of each other, but the greatest harmony seems to prevail 

 among the proprietors. 



While the females are sitting, the males are either wading through the 

 ponds, or roaming over the adjoining marshes ; but should a person 

 make his appearance, the Avhole collect together in the air, flying with 

 their long legs extended behind them, keeping up a continual yelping 

 note of click click click. Their flight is steady, and not in short sudden 

 jerks like that of the Plover. As they frequently alight on the bare 

 marsh, they drop their wings, stand with their legs half bent, and trem- 

 ble as if unable to sustain the burden of their bodies. In this ridiculous 

 posture they will sometimes stand for several minutes, uttering a curring 

 sound, while from the corresponding quiverings of their wings and long 

 legs, they seem to balance themselves with gj-eat difficulty. This sin- 

 gular manoeuvre is, no doubt, intended to induce a belief that they may 

 be easily caught, and so turn the attention of the person from the pur- 

 suit of their nests and young to themselves. The lled-neckcd Avoset, 

 which we have introduced in the present volume, practises the very 

 same deception, in the same ludicrous manner, and both alight indis- 

 criminately on the ground, or in the water. Both will also occasionally 

 swim for a few feet, when they chance in wading to lose their depth, as 

 I have had several times an opportunity of observing. 



The name by which this bird is known on the seacoast is the Stilt, or 

 Tilt, or Long-shanks. They are but sparingly dispersed over the 

 marshes, having, as has been already observed, their particular favorite 

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



