86 NATURAL HISTORY 



great curiosity to see the stilt plover move ; 

 to observe 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 support its steps it must be 

 liable, in speculation, to perpetual vacilla- 

 tions, and seldom able to preserve the true 

 center of gravity. 



The old name of himantopus is taken 

 from Pliny ; and, by an aukward metaphor, 

 implies that the legs are as slender and 

 pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather. 

 Neither Willughby nor Ray, in all their cu- 

 rious 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 : and a most accurate 

 observer of Nature has assured me that he 

 has found it on the banks of the streams 

 in Andalusia. 



