168 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family CHAKADEIID^. Genus HIMANTOPUS. 



Subfamily HIMANTOFODIN&. 



COMMON STILT. 



HIMANTOPUS MELANOPTEEUS. Meyer. 

 PLATE XXIV. 



Charadrius himantopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 255 (1766). 



Himantopus melanopterus Meyer; Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 312 (1852); Seebohm, 

 Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 79 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Pig. Brit. B. pt. xiii. (1890) ; Dixon, 

 Nests and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 237 (1894) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. 

 B. p. 129, pi. 38 (1896). 



Himantopus candidus Bonn.; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 587, pis. 535, 536 (1877); 

 Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4 iii. p. 305 (1883). 



Himantopus himantopus (Linn.), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 188 (1896) ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 310 (1896). 



Geographical distribution. British : The Common Stilt is an 

 occasional straggler on migration to the British Islands, chiefly individuals that 

 have overshot the mark on their way to their European breeding grounds in 

 spring, but occasionally stray birds that have joined the western stream of 

 migration in autumn. It has been known as an accidental visitor to our shores 

 for upwards of two hundred years. It is most frequently observed on the south and 

 east coasts of England, especially in Norfolk (twelve examples) ; but occasionally 

 met with inland, in Notts, Oxford, Somerset, etc. It is very rare in Scotland, where, 

 however, it has been met with as far north as the Orkney and Shetland Islands. 

 In Ireland about half-a-dozen examples are on record. Foreign: Southern and 

 Western Palaearctic region, Oriental and Ethiopian regions. It is a summer visitor 

 to the marshes of Southern Spain and Portugal, the delta of the Rhone, Sicily, the 

 Danube valley (Neusiedler See, near Vienna), and the lagoons of the Black Sea. 

 Elsewhere in Europe it is only an accidental straggler on migration, visiting 

 Northern France, Holland, Denmark, and Germany. It is a resident in many 

 parts of Africa, where it has been found breeding as far south as the Berg river, 

 and is said to do so on the coasts of Madagascar. It is most abundant in the 

 Ethiopian region during winter, its numbers being then increased by migrants 

 from the northern shores of the Mediterranean : but it is said to be a resident in 

 Algeria, and is an abnormal migrant to the Canaries. Eastwards it is a summer 

 visitor to the Kirghiz and Kalmuk Steppes, Asia Minor, Palestine, North Persia, 

 Turkestan, and Afghanistan, the birds breeding in this area wintering in Africa, 



