108 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



226. Himantopus mexicanus (MULL.) [567.] 



Black-necked Stilt. 



Hab. Temperate North America from Northern United States southward to West Indies, Brazil, 

 and Peru. 



This exceedingly long-legged bird is distributed throughout the 

 United States, and like the Avocet, is rare in the eastern portions. It 

 is abundant in the West, but its range is rather more southerly than 

 that of the Avocet. In Ohio it is a rare summer visitor. Perhaps 

 breeds. The nest of the Stilt is often only a slight depression in the 

 ground, lined with dry grasses, situated along some stream or ditch, or 

 near water ; some collectors have found the nest at the water's edge, 

 or on a heaped mass of vegetation just above the surface of shallow 

 water. A. M. Shields says that the Stilt arrives in the vicinity of L,os 

 Angeles, California, about May ist, and the eggs may be found fresh 

 until the middle of June. He states that the birds usually congregate 

 in large flocks in some suitable locality, and build their nests close 

 together, a score or more are often found within a few yards of each 

 other ; the nests being composed of small sticks and roots, closely laid 

 together and placed among the grass on the margin of a lake or river.* 



This record refers to the abundance of the Stilt in the season of 

 1883, and those previous; but I am informed by Mr. Shields that 

 the bird is not so abundant as formerly, only a few pair breeding in the 

 neighborhood of Los Angeles each year. 



The eggs are of a greenish-yellow, thickly spotted, blotched and 

 lined irregularly with brownish-black of varying shades ; pyriform in 

 shape ; three or four in number ; sizes from 1.60 to 1.85 long by 1.15 to 

 1.25 broad. 



[227.] Scolopax rusticola LINN. [524.] 



European Woodcock. 



Hab. Old World; occasional in Eastern North America. 



The European Woodcock is widely distributed over the northern 

 parts of the Old World. It is of larger size than the American bird. 

 Many instances are on record of its breeding in various parts of 

 Great Britain, but the greater portion of the birds are considered 

 migratory. Breeds abundantly in Norway, Sweden, L,apland and in 

 Northern Russia. Nocturnal in its habits, reposing in the daytime in 

 grassy bottoms in woods, and at twilight it regains activity, resorting 

 to open glades and marshy bottoms, where it feeds. These tracts are 

 known as " cock-shoots," or " cock-roads." The food of the birds is 

 the common earth-worm, which they procure by boring, or thrusting 

 their bills into the soft mud. The nest consists of a few leaves loosely 

 laid together, and without lining. The eggs are usually four in num- 



* Young Qologist, Vol. I, p. 41. 



