220 LONG-LEGGED AVOSET. 



While the females are sitting, the males are either wading 

 through the ponds, or roaming over the adjoining marshes; but 

 should a person make his appearance, the whole collect together 

 in the air, flying with their long legs extended behind them, 

 keeping up a continual yelping note of click click click. Their 

 flight is steady, and not in short sudden jerks like that of the 

 Plover. As they frequently alight on the bare marsh, they drop 

 their wings, stand with their legs half bent, and tremble as if 

 unable to sustain the burden of their bodies. In this ridiculous 

 posture they will sometimes stand for several minutes, uttering 

 a curring sound, while from the corresponding quiverings of 

 their wings and long legs, they seem to balance themselves with 

 great difficulty. This singular manoeuvre is, no doubt, intended 

 to induce a belief that they may be easily caught, and so turn 

 the attention of the person from the pursuit of their nests and 

 young to themselves. The Red-necked Avoset, which we have 

 introduced in the present volume, practises the very same de- 

 ception, in the same ludicrous manner, and both alight indis- 

 criminately on the ground, or in the water. Both will also 

 occasionally swim for a few feet, when they chance in wading 

 to lose their depth, as I have had several times an opportunity 

 of observing. 



The name by which this bird is known on the seacoast is the 

 Stilt, or Tilt, or Long-shanks. They are but sparingly dispersed 

 over the marshes, having, as has been already observed, their 

 particular favourite spots; while in large intermediate tracts, 

 there are few or none to be found. They occasionally visit the 

 shore, wading about in the water, and in the mud, in search of 

 food, which they scoop up very dexterously with their delicately 

 formed bills. On being wounded while in the water, they at- 

 tempt to escape by diving, at which they are by no means ex- 

 pert. In autumn, their flesh is tender, and well tasted. They 

 seldom raise more than one brood in the season, and depart for 

 the south early in September. As they are well known in Ja- 

 maica, it is probable some of them may winter in that and other 

 of the West India Islands. 



