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 with 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.’’+ 
* This bird, which 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. 
+ In Mr. Salvin’s “ Five months’ birds’ nesting in the Eastern 
Atlas” (“ Fbis,” 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 
