348 GAME BIBBS OF CALIFOFNIA 



The voice of the Stilt is described as a shrill ip-ip-ip and may be 

 heard both during the day and at night. On the nesting grounds at 

 the beginning of the breeding season one of a pair is sometimes heard 

 to utter a nasal qudnk as it flies up with its mate ; on alighting one of 

 the birds continually "squats," as if the legs were too weak to sustain 

 its body. 



The nesting period of the Stilt extends from the first of April to 

 the end of July. The height of the season occurs from the middle of 

 May to the middle of June. At Calexico, Imperial County, Murphy 

 (MS) saw three newly hatched Stilts and many adults on April 14, 

 1915. Sets of eggs have been taken near Santa Ana, Orange County, 

 from the first of May until August (Grinnell, 1898, p. 16). Willett 

 (1912cf, p. 35) says that in the coastal district of southern California 

 the Stilt breeds most abundantly from May 15 to June 15. The species 

 was nesting in colonies at Buena Vista Lake between May 20 and 

 June 16, 1907 (Linton, 1908c, p. 197), and at Tulare Lake between 

 June 23 and July 7 the same year (Goldman, 1908&, p. 203). In the 

 Fresno district the Stilt has been found nesting from April 26 to 

 July 1 (Tyler, 19136. p. 26, and MS), and farther north, at Los Bauos, 

 Merced County, from May 5, 1896, until May 25, 1899 (sets in Mus. 

 Vert. Zool.). It is known to have bred at Woodland, Yolo County 

 (set in Mailliard coll., taken May 23, 1886), but no farther north in 

 the Sacramento Valley. Emerson (Mailliard coll.) has found eggs 

 May 3, 1908, and young June 4, 1911, near Niles, Alameda County. 

 Dawson (MS) thinks the species may nest at Goose Lake, Modoc 

 County, but no eggs were taken there. 



Several different types of surroundings are selected by Stilts when 

 nesting. The nest may be placed on a dry or grass-covered flat one 

 hundred yards or more from water, on a muddy island in the middle 

 of a pond or lake, or actually in shallow water. The structure of the 

 nest varies with location. Frequently, if the nest be placed on a dry 

 flat, it is a mere depression slightly hollowed out to approximately fit 

 the body of the bird and lined with a sparse layer of grasses or weed 

 stems a fourth of an inch in thickness, or even less ; sometimes only 

 a few pieces of vegetation are found at the nest site. Again, upon a 

 muddy island, it may be composed of a layer of weed or grass stems, 

 or tules, two or more inches in depth. When so constructed the indi- 

 vidual pieces of vegetation composing the nest measure about two 

 inches in length. The most elaborate nests constructed by the Stilt 

 are those situated in water several inches in depth. H. C. Bryant, 

 Tyler and some other observers believe that the Stilt is capable of 

 meeting the emergency of rising water by adding to the height of the 

 nest sufficiently to keep the eggs above the level of the water. Such 

 nests are begun on open ground and added to only when the rising 



