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Flocks of these birds assail the various corn crops 

 whenever they are in a state to afford them 

 food, and after the harvest is gathered, the pro- 

 fuse gleanings of the old rice, corn, and buck- 

 wheat fields supply them abundantly. They breed 

 in swampy places in Pennsylvania, &c. ; in the 

 beginning of May. Their eggs are of a pale bluish 

 white, with a circle of spots and streaks of dark 

 liver brown round the thick end, and one or two 

 scattered spots of the same colour, and some faint 

 blotches of purplish grey." 



STILT, BLACK-WINGED. 



LONG-LEGGED, OR STILT PLOVER. 



HlMANTOPUS HELANOPTERTJS, Flem. 



This species, which is said to be plentiful in 

 many parts of Asia and the south-eastern portions 

 of Europe, migrates into Germany, France, and 

 Italy, and has been in several instances obtained 

 in England. It is of a singular slender form, 

 with legs so extremely elongated as at once to 

 suggest the idea of a bird walking on stilts. It 

 flies with rapidity, walks and runs with celerity, 

 vibrating its body, and when standing is remark- 

 ably vociferous. It prefers the margins of lakes to 

 the sides of rivers, and searches the mud and sand 

 for worms, insects, &c., often wading far into the 

 water in pursuit of its natural prey. It breeds in 



