160 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



men, 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 in- 

 stance, 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 fift .. times and a 

 fraction more than four ounces, an_; one quarter; and if 

 four ounces and a quarter have eight inches of legs, four 

 pounds must ha one hundred and twenty inches and a 

 fraction ^1 ^^ , jiz., somewhat more than ten feet ; such 

 a monstrous proportion as the world never saw ! l 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 it's steps, it must be liable, in speculation, to 

 perpetual vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the true 

 center of gravity. 



The old name of himantopus is taken from Pliny ; and, 

 by an aukward metaphor, implies that the legs are as slender 

 and pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather. Neither 

 Willughby nor Ray, in all their curious researches, either at 

 home or abroad, ever saw this bird. Mr. Pennant never 



1 On this statement Professor Bell has the following comment: "It is re- 

 markable that a man so accurate as the author should have fallen into so obvious 

 a mistake as this, to which my attention was drawn, many years ago, by my late 

 nephew Dr. Bell Salter ; and it is not less so that one edition after another has 

 appeared under the supervision and auspices of so many successive editors without 

 detection. The proportion of the limit should be according to the cube root of the 

 might of each bird ; and in the present instance, by a single calculation, it will 

 be seen that nature is right, and that Gilbert White was wrong." [R. B. S.] 



