332 The Natural History of Selborne 



Frinsham-pond [Frensham-pond], a large lake belonging to the 

 Bishop of Winchester, and lying between Wolmer-forest and the 

 town of Farnham, in the county of Surrey. The pond keeper says 

 there were three brace in the flock : but, that after he had satisfied 

 his curiosity, he suffered the sixth to remain unmolested. One of 

 these specimens I procured, and found the length of the legs to be 

 so extraordinary, that, at first sight, one might have supposed the 

 shanks had been fastened on to impose on the credulity of the 

 beholder : they were legs in caricatura ; and had we seen such pro- 

 portions on a Chinese or Japan screen we should have made large 

 allowances for the fancy of the draughtsman. These birds are of 

 the plover family, and might with propriety be called the stilt- 

 plovers. Brisson, under that idea, gives them the apposite name of 

 I'echasse. My specimen, when drawn and stuffed with pepper, 

 weighed only four ounces and a quarter, though the naked part of 

 the thigh measured three inches and a half, and the legs four inches 

 and a half. Hence we may safely assert that these birds exhibit, 

 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 

 himantopus ; 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 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 vacillations, and seldom able to preserve 

 the true centre of gravity. 



