CHARADRIIDiE. 



563 







THE BLACK-WINGED STILT. 



HiMANTOPUs CANDiDUS, Bonnatcrre. 



The occurrence of the Stilt in the British Islands was noticed as 

 long ago as 1684 by Sir Robert Sibbald, who described and figured 

 one of two examples which had been shot at a lake near the town 

 of Dumfries. Since that date a few more have been obtained or 

 observed — at long intervals — on the mainland of Scotland, as well 

 as in the Orkneys and Shetlands ; while two are recorded from 

 Yorkshire, one each from Notts, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, 

 and about fourteen from Norfolk. Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Gloucester- 

 shire and some inland counties have also been visited, while in the 

 south of England, from Kent to Cornwall, a good many specimens 

 have been procured from time to time ; on the west side, however, 

 the Stilt is very rare, though Montagu mentions one from Anglesea. 

 In Ireland it has been met with on five or six occasions. As a 

 rule the occurrences in the British Islands have been in the months 



X X 2 



