HIMANTOPUS CANDIDUS. 93 
cannot be more than a quarter of a mile wide at the most. I was told by my 
companions that there was no chance of finding Avosets’ eggs, as they had all 
hatched, and the young were mostly able to fly or were fully fledged. Also 
that they made their nests, or rather laid their eggs with hardly any nest, on 
the flat ground to the north of the island. Within five minutes of landing I 
saw an Avoset on the wing. It is not a graceful bird when flying, the first 
three primaries (as I afterwards noticed, when I had a dead bird in my hand) 
being of nearly equal length, the wing is heavy ; the head looks large, and the 
slender beak is not seen unless the bird is very near, while the long legs 
hanging out and the half-webbed toes form quite an awkward club [foot ?] 
look. The birds on the wing reminded me rather of Dromas ardeola than of 
Himantopus. The note was an incessant ‘kink, ‘kink, ‘kink,’ not unlike 
an Oyster-catcher’s, but not so loud—the old Salthouse name ‘ Clinker’ was 
of course from this note. Herr R. almost immediately shot one bird, as it was 
feeding tamely in a few inches of water. I never saw more than four birds at 
once, though I was told by Herr Olsen that many more had been there, but 
that they had gone away to other places with their young. We ail looked for 
x nest, but could find none that was supposed to be an Avoset’s. One of the 
party—Herr Fahrenholtz, I think—picked up and gave me a fragment of an egg. 
A young bird more than half-grown was caught, but at my instance was 
liberated, though either this or another of the same age was killed, for when 
we returned a dead one was produced, and I think Herr B. kept it.... After 
going over the flat part of the island, they all went over to the moraine to the 
south-west, and here Herr R. shot another Avoset. . .. Altogether I was much 
surprised at the place where the Avosets bred, so unlike what I expected it to 
be. All agreed that the birds always nested where the grass was shortest. 
The island and the land including the farm of Vijlé belong to Baron Reedtz 
Thott, who had given Herr B. permission to shoot and take eggs as he liked. 
On returning to the farm, the woman there told us that half an hour before a 
fox had carried off two of her fowls. . . . I forgot to mention that at Dybsé there 
is no shingle or sand; but a fringe of hard mud on which a good deal of sea- 
weed has been thrown up between high and low water-marks, and above, by, 
I suppose, the winter storms. The grass grows quite to the edge of this deposit 
of seaweed.” 
HIMANTOPUS CANDIDUS, Bonnaterre. 
STILT. 
§ 3315. Two.—Tangier. From M. Favier, 1845. 
Nine specimens of this very rare egg I obtained of M. Vavier at 
Tangier in September, 1845. I mentioned in ‘The Zoologist’ 
[1846, p. 1214] that I had these and other eggs [$$ 682, 8215], and 
1 had many applications for them. I exchanged two with Dr. Pitman, 
one with Mr. J. H. Tuke, one with Mr. Wilmot, and I gave two to 
