BLACK-WINGED STILT. 245 



year. Of one of these, which was shot by himself, Mr. 

 Lubbock communicated the following interesting par- 

 ticulars to Yarrell's "British Birds":— "On the 9th 

 of June, 1822, I was returning in the evening from 

 fishing upon Hickling Broad, when a bird of this species 

 flew past the boat within thirty yards. The legs were 

 extended behind, even more in proportion than those 

 of a heron ; the wings were much arched ; the flight 

 vigorous and regular ; the colour and the length of 

 limb made me guess what it must be. I asked the 

 fenman who was vnth me, what he guessed it to be ? 

 He considered it a ruff which had been caught, as is 

 sometimes the case in our marshes, by a horse-hair 

 snare, and had broken away with it. When I told him 

 that I believed it to be a very rare and valuable bird, he 

 wished to go in immediate pursuit, but I overruled that, 

 as there was not more than half-an-hour's light remain- 

 ing, and the bird, if shot at ineffectually, might leave 

 the country in the night. We searched for it early the 

 next morning, and found it in precisely the same place 

 as the evening before. When shot"^ it was standing in 

 a shallow pool of water, mid-leg deep, apparently snap- 

 ping at insects in the air as they buzzed round it."t 



* This bird, wliicli is also noticed in Hunt's " List," was pre- 

 sented by Mr. Lubbock to Mr. J. Postle, of Colney, who was then 

 a collector, and at his death it came into the hands of his son, the 

 late Rev. Edward Postle, of Yelverton, and is now in the posses- 

 sion of Mr. Henry Postle, of Little Witchingham. 



•f" In Mr, Salvia's " Five months' birds' nesting in the Eastern 

 Atlas" (" Ibis," 1859, p. 360) this species is described as breeding in 

 the marshes of Zana and Chot Saboun " in great abundance 

 amongst the wet grass, choosing for the position of its nest a small 

 tuft, so as just to keep the eggs out of the water." In some cases, 

 however, the eggs were half immersed. At the moment of taking 

 flight, the long legs of this bird hang awkwardly down, but once 

 fairly on the wing they are stretched out far beyond the tail ; and 

 when striding about in search of food their movements are not 



