1 88 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



of the ground-colour is a warm or pale clay-brown, some of the 

 lighter-coloured eggs having an olive tinge. The spots are 

 black and generally distributed over the egg, some of the larger 

 ones being confluent and forming blotches. In many examples, 

 however, the markings are very small and take the form of 

 scratches and scribblings. The underlying spots are stone- 

 grey, and are more perceptible in the sparsely-marked eggs. 

 Axis, 175-2-05 inches; diam., 1*25-1-55. 



THE STILTS. GENUS HIMANTOPUS. 



Himantopus^ Briss, Orn. v. p. 33 (1760). 



Type, H. himantopus (L.). 



The Stilts are distinguished from the Avocets by their 

 straight bill and thin, long legs, which extend far behind the 

 body of the birds. The toes have scarcely any connecting 

 web, and are divided almost to the base. They differ from the 

 Avocets also in wanting the hind-toe, or hallux. In Australia 

 an intermediate form, Cladorhynchus, occurs, which has 

 webbed toes and wants the hallux, resembling the Stilts in 

 these respects, but having a slightly upturned bill, as in the 

 Avocets. 



Seven species of Stilts are known, and they inhabit both the 

 Eastern and Western Hemispheres, though they do not range 

 north of the temperate portions of the globe. H. mexicanus 

 replaces H. himantopus in North America, H. knudseni is 

 peculiar to the Sandwich Islands, H. melanurus is South 

 American, while H. leucocephalus, JH. picatus, and H. melas 

 belong to the Australian Region. 



I. THE BLACK-WINGED STILT. HIMANTOPUS HIMANTOPUS. 



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

 Himantopus welanopterus, Meyer; Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 312 



(1852); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 79 (1885); Lil- 



ford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xiii. (1890). 

 Himantopus caudidus, Bonn.; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 587, pis. 



535, 536 (1877); B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 163 (1883); 



Saunders, ed. YarrelPs Brit. B. iii. p. 305 (1883); id. 



Man. Brit. B. p. 547 (1889). 



