248 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



weight for inches, incomparably the greatest length of legs of 

 any known bird. The flamingo, for instance, is one of the most 

 long-legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of proportion to 

 the liimantopus ; for a cock flamingo weighs, at an average, about 

 four pounds avoirdupois ; and his legs and thighs measure usually 

 about twenty inches. But four pounds are fifteen times and a 

 fraction more than four ounces and one quarter; and if four 

 ounces and a quarter have eight inches of legs, four pounds 

 must have one hundred and twenty inches and a fraction of legs ; 

 viz., somewhat more than ten feet ; such a monstrous proportion 

 as the world never saw ! If you should try the experiment in 

 still larger birds the disparity would still increase. It must be 

 matter of great curiosity to see the stilt plover move ; to observe 



I.AI'WIMi OU 1'1-OVEB'S EGG. 



how it can wield such a length of lever with such feeble muscles 

 as the thighs seem to be furnished with. At best one should 

 expect it to be but a bad walker: but what adds to the wonder 

 is, that it has no back toe. Now without that steady prop to sup- 

 port its steps it must be liable, in speculation, to perpetual vacilla- 

 tions, and seldom able to preserve the true centre of gravity. 



The old name of himantopus is taken from Pliny ; and, by an 

 awkward metaphor, implies that the legs are as slender and 

 pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather. Neither Willughby 

 nor Hay, in all their curious researches, either at home or abroad, 

 ever saw this bird. Mr. Pennant never met with it in all Great 

 Britain, but observed it often in the cabinets of the curious at 

 Paris. Hasselquist says that it migrates to Egypt in the autumn : 



