548 BLACK-WINGEJ") STILT. 



been in the months of May, June and July, only a few being 

 observed in autumn. 



To Denmark, Germany, Holland and the north of France the 

 Black-winged Stilt is only a straggler, but — like the Avocet — it 

 breeds sparingly on the Neuseidler See in Hungary, more freely in 

 the Camargue at the mouth of the Rhone, and abundantly in the 

 marismas of Southern Spain, as well as in the marshes of Sicily, and 

 on the low shores of the Black, Caspian and Aral Seas. It also 

 nests freely by the lakes of North Africa, though even there, as well 

 as in the Canaries and throughout the basin of the Mediterranean, 

 the bird is almost entirely a migrant, arriving in March or April and 

 seldom remaining after the end of November. In winter it is found 

 down both sides of Africa and in Madagascar ; while in Asia it 

 inhabits the warm and temperate regions, large numbers breeding in 

 some parts of the north of India, and also in Ceylon. 



The eggs, full clutches of which I have found plentiful in the 

 south of Spain by May 4th, are usually 4 in number, and are of 

 a warm stone-colour with hieroglyphic-like scroUings and blotches 

 of black: average measurements 17 by i"25 in. By the pools in 

 the marismas they were placed in a slight nest of bents by the side 

 of a tuft of rushes, often so near the water as to be coated with 

 mud from the birds' feet ; but on the lower and wetter ground Mr. 

 Abel Chapman met with more solid structures, while on the lagoons 

 of the Black Sea Messrs. Seebohm and Young observed nests from 

 two to four inches high. Col. Legge found great variety in the sites 

 chosen in Ceylon. The food consists of small univalves, gnats, flies, 

 beetles and aquatic insects, in pursuit of which the bird wades up to 

 its knees in shallow water. The note is a clear pee, pee, pee, and 

 when the eggs or young are approached, gtireet, gnrect, gnreet, 

 sharply reiterated. At such times the old birds fly close round the 

 head of the trespasser on their territory, hovering with slow beats 

 of their wings, and dangling their long legs, which are carried 

 straight out during the ordinary flight. 



The male in first breeding-dress has the nape and hind-neck 

 black ; mantle and wings greenish-black ; tail grey ; rest of plumage 

 white, with an evanescent pink tinge ; old males have pure white 

 heads, and exhibit no black streak down the neck. Bill black, 

 irides red, legs and feet pink. Length from base of bill to tip of 

 wings 14 in. ; wing 9*5 in. ; legs 10 in. The female has a somewhat 

 browner mantle. The young bird has the nape, hind-neck and 

 shoulders grey ; back and inner secondaries ash-brown ; quills 

 brownish-black. 



