240 CHARADRIIOJK. 



Subfamily HIMANTOPODIN.E. 



Genus HIMANTOPUS Britson, Orn. v. 1760, p. 33. 

 Type : H. himantopus (Linn.). 



Himantdpus=& kind of water-bird in Oppian (Circ. A.D. 180), from !/tas=a 

 thong, and TTOVS = a foot. 



Himantopus himantopus. BLACK-WINGED STILT. 



Charadrius himantopus Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, 

 p. 151 : Egypt. 



Himantopus candidus Bonnaterre; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, 

 p. 163 ; Sounders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 563. 



Himantopus himantopus (Linn.) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xxiv. 

 1896, p. 310. 



Distribution in the British Islands. An Occasional Visitor. 

 From time to time a number have been obtained on the east 

 and south coasts of Great Britain, from the Orkney and Shet- 

 land Islands southwards, and especially in Norfolk, where 

 nearly twenty examples have been recorded. It has also been 

 met with in some of the inland counties, such as Nottingham- 

 shire, Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire ; on the west coast 

 it is rare. In Ireland it has been recorded six times only. 



General Distribution. The Black-winged Stilt breeds in 

 suitable localities in southern Europe, from the Spanish 

 Peninsula eastwards to the shores of the Black and Caspian 

 seas, and through Turkestan and Persia to India, Ceylon, 

 and Burma ; also throughout the greater part of Africa 

 south to Cape Colony. It is migratory in the more northern 

 parts of its range, and is an irregular visitor to Denmark, 

 Holland, Germany, the north of France, and Switzerland. 



Genus RECURVIROSTRA Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, 



p. 151. 

 Type : R. avocetta Linn. 



Recuri'iroatra, from recurrns = turned back, and rostrum the beak. 



