THE PLOVER TRIBE 2255 



its base slit-like in form. The genus includes six well-defined species and a variety, 

 which are distributed over Southern Europe and Asia, Africa, Australasia, and a 

 considerable part of America, although wanting in the northern regions of this con- 

 tinent. A single species, the black- winged stilt (.//. candidus}, which is an occa- 

 sional visitor to Britain, inhabits Southern Europe, and may be distinguished from its 

 allies by having in the adult condition the whole of the head and neck white, although 

 immature examples have some black on the crown of the head and back of the neck. 

 In the adult male, which measures from thirteen to fourteen inches in length, the 

 upper parts and wings are black, glossed with green on the back; the upper tail 

 coverts and tail are pearly gray; while the whole of the rest of the plumage is pure 

 white; the beak being black, and the iris, legs, and feet crimson. Resident in 

 India, this bird visits Burma in the winter, and straggles as far east as New Zea- 

 land; while in summer it resorts to Southern Europe, and is found at all seasons in 

 many parts of Africa. One of its nearest allies is the Australian stilt (//. leuco- 

 cephalus), in which the back of the neck is black, with a white collar separating it 

 from the dark area of the black. Of the South- American species, the Chilian stilt 

 (H. brasiliensis) , which winters in Brazil, has the black of the neck extending for- 

 ward beneath the eye. 



Stilts are essentially marsh birds, although they always keep to open water, 

 in which they may be seen standing up to their knees on the lookout for insects, 

 mollusks, tadpoles, etc. ; their most favorite resorts being lagoons, where the water 

 is brackish. They are generally found in small parties, and whether on land, in 

 the water, or in the air, are remarkable for their graceful appearance. They walk 

 with a deliberate step, which may be quickened into a run; and they fly straight 

 but slowly, with the neck outstretched and the long legs extended beyond the tail. 

 Ordinarily silent and far from shy, in the breeding season these birds utter a cry 

 resembling the syllables, kit, kot, kit, and are most assiduous in endeavoring to 

 lure the intruder away from the vicinity of their nests. In India stilts' breed in 

 enormous numbers, laying most of their eggs in June, although in Spain they are 

 at least a month earlier; one of the favorite haunts being some salt works near 

 Delhi, where the brine is distributed in shallow pools over acres of ground. The 

 nest varies according to the nature of the locality, being more bulky in moist situa- 

 tions, and sometimes even floating on the water. The four eggs are pear shaped, 

 and of a buffish brown ground color, upon which are blackish brown streaks and 

 blotches, with underlying markings of gray. 



Although closely connected with the stilts by two aberrant species, 

 it seems on the whole convenient to separate the still more graceful 

 avocets as a genus, under the title of Recurvirostra, the sole distinctive characteristic 

 applicable to all the members being the more fully-webbed feet. In the more typi- 

 cal forms, however, such as the common avocet (R. avocetta), the beak is strongly 

 curved upward at the extremity, the webbed feet are furnished with a small first 

 toe, and the plumage of the upper parts is pied. The connection with the stilts is 

 formed in one way by the Peruvian avocet (R. andina), in which the plumage of 

 the upper parts is black; and in another by the banded avocet (R. pectoralis) , in 

 which, while the plumage is pied, the beak is straight, and the first toe wanting. 



