356 NATURAL HISTORY 



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 frac- 

 tion 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 



