STILT 



913 



to its breadth in the heavy-bodied and comparatively short-Avinged 



Alddx. 



STILT, Longshanks or Long-Legged Plover, a bird so called 

 for reasons obvious to any one who has seen it, since, though 

 no bigger than a Snipe, the length of its legs (their bare part 

 measuring 8 inches), in proportion to the size of its body, exceeds 

 that of any other bird's. The first name, a rendering of the French 

 ^cliasse, given in 1760 by Brisson {Orn. v. p. 33), seems to have 

 been formally conferred by Rennie in 1831 ; but, recommended by 



Black-necked American Stilt. (After Gosse.) 



its definiteness and brevity, it has wholly supplanted the others.^ 

 The bird is the Charadrius himmitopus- of Linnseus, the Himaiitopvs 

 candidus or melanopterus of modern writers, and belongs to the group 

 Limicolx, having been usually placed in the Family Scolopacidx, 

 and is certainly not very distant from Recurviroslra (Avoset). 



The very peculiar form of the Stilt naturally gave Buffon occasion 

 {Hist. Nat. Ois. viii. pp. 114-116) to lament the shortcomings of 



- According to Wilson {Am. Orn. vii. p. 50) it was already in use in 1813 

 in his adopted country ; but it must have been through adaptation from the 

 French, or coincidence, and not, like Oyster-catcher (p. 682, note 1), an 

 English name that had been carried thither. The old and perhaps singular 

 application of Ox-eye to this bird has been already mentioned (p. 680, note 2). 



2 The possible confusion by Pliny's transcribers of this word with Hxmatopus 

 has been already mentioned (p. 682, note 2). Himantopus, with its equivalent 

 Loripes, " by an awkward metaphor," as remarked by Gilbert White, "implies 

 that the legs are as slender and pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather." 



58 



