STILT, AVOCET. 



503 



FIG. 286. STILT. 



slenderness of their legs, and for the peculiar form of their bills. 



Although not numerous, the Stilts 



are found in every quarter of the 



globe ; the species which occasion- 



ally visits England and western 



Europe, being spread throughout 



Asia and Africa, another being 



met with in Australia, and two 



others in America. They fre- 



quent marshes, shallow-lakes, salt 



pools, &c. ; and feed upon minute 



shell-fish, insects, Crustacea, &c. 



They construct their nests in the 



vicinity of these ; six or eight 



pairs uniting to build a sort of 



platform, by which the nests may 



be raised above the level of the water. The immense length of 



their legs, and the wide spread of their toes, adapts them admi- 



rably for wading ; and when they get beyond their depth, they 



can swim with facility ; but they cannot walk with steadiness 



upon hard ground. Their wings are long, however, and they fly 



with great swiftness. In the Avocet, the bill is of extraordinary 



length, and slenderness ; 

 and curves upwards to- 

 wards the tip. Although 

 this conformation renders 

 it unfit for being plunged 

 in the mud in search of 

 food, it adapts it most 

 admirably to skim its 

 * surface in the manner of 

 a light scoop ; and thus 



FIG. 287-AvocET. 



insects and worms on which the Bird feeds. The way in which 

 it avails itself of the harvest of worms and larvae, small crusta- 

 ceous and molluscous animals, the spawn of fishes, &c., which 

 are half imbedded in the mud at the bottom of the fens and 



