COMMON STILT. 81 



seems to bend beneath its light weight. Sometimes two or three may be 

 seen feeding together, walking with deliberate graceful step, which is 

 occasionally quickened almost into a run ; but they seldom utter a note. 

 They do not seem to be particularly shy ; and it is not necessary to keep 

 concealed amongst the reeds, except when you approach the nests. Then 

 the habits of the birds change entirely : all idea of feeding is given up ; 

 their whole attention is absorbed in the effort to decoy you from the 

 colony ; they are alarmed for the safety of their eggs, and in their excite- 

 ment they suddenly become noisy birds. As they run along the sand, 

 with uplifted wings, they look the perfection of beauty and grace ; but 

 they soon take wing, and try hard to lead you inland to the steppe. 

 Generally two or three fly together, looking almost like miniature Storks as 

 they pass over : the neck is outstretched and the bill is slightly depressed ; 

 whilst the long red legs, which reach considerably beyond the tail, are also 

 extended slightly below the horizontal line. The motion of the wings is 

 not very rapid, but the line of flight is straight ; now and then the bird 

 skims along for a short distance with outspread motionless wings ; and 

 whilst thus sailing slowly along it has a curious habit of dropping its legs ; 

 but this action is performed so high in the air that the bird can scarcely be 

 making preparations to alight, and may perhaps only be trying to attract 

 attention to itself. All this time the birds are noisy enough. It has two 

 cries of anxiety at the nest — one a sharp rapidly repeated kit, kit, kit, or 

 hit, hit, hit, and the other a -sort of rattling note, resembling the syllable 

 peur-r-re. As the wily bird succeeds in luring the intruder away from its 

 treasures, it does not fly so near him ; the former note only is heard, and is 

 less rapidly and less anxiously repeated ; the final t is omitted or is in- 

 audible, and the note sounds like kee, kee, kee. 



When Mr. Young and I were in the Dobrudscha in 1883 we found a 

 small colony of seven nests on the 7th of June. The first nest was some- 

 what isolated, built amongst the very outermost straggling reeds, and two 

 or three birds were standing in the water not very far from it. It was very 

 flat, and stood from two to three inches above the level of the water ; the 

 slight hollow was about six inches across, and the nest was about eight 

 inches in diameter at the surface of the water. It was entirely composed 

 of broken bits of old dead reeds, the slenderest pieces being reserved for 

 the lining. Twenty yards further on was the main colony, consisting of 

 five similar nests, built on the bare black mud between the reeds and the 

 water, and distributed over a space of perhaps twenty or thirty yards ; 

 whilst the seventh nest was again somewhat isolated, built in the water 

 at least six feet away from the reeds, and jilaced upon a heap of yellow 

 ooze, which had evidently been collected for a foundation. One nest 

 contained a single egg ; the other six had the full clutch of four : all the 

 eggs were fresh except one clutch, which was slightly incubated. 



VOL. III. G 



