COMMON STILT. 79 



HIMANTOPUS MELANOPTERUS. 

 COMMON STILT. 



(PLATE 24.) 



ITitnantopus himantopus, Briss. Orn. v. p. 34 (1760). 



Dharadiiua himantopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 255 (17(36). 



Himantopus candidus, Bonn. Tabl. Encycl. i. p. 24 (1790). 



Iliinantopus vulgaris, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 325, pi. 28 (1803). 



Cursorius himantopus (Briss.), Turton, Brit. Faun. p. G2 (1807). 



Himantopus rufipes, Bechst. Naturg. Deidschl. iii. p. 446 (1809). 



Himantopus atropterus, Meyer, Taschenb. ii. p. 315 (1810). 



Himantopus melanoplerus, Meyer, Ann. Wetter. Gesellsch. iii. p. 177 (1814); et 



auctorum plurimorum Temminck, Schleyel, Tristram, Blyth, Elwes, Gurnet/, 



Shelley, Sounder*, Hortlattb, Cabanis, Homeyer, Salvadori, Finsch, Taczanotvski, 



Lichtenstein, Lindermeyer, Yarrett, &c. 



Himantopus albicollis, Vieill. N. Diet, a" Hist. Nat. x. p. 41 (1817). 

 Ilvpsibates himantopus (Briss.'), Nitzsch, Ersch fy Grub. Encycl. xvi. p. 150 (1827). 

 Iliinantopus plinii, Flem. Brit. An. p. 112 (1828). 

 Himantopus asiaticus, Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 44. 

 Himantopus intermedius, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 265 (1849). 

 Himantopus autuninalis (Hasselquist), apud Gray, Holdsworth, Legye, Heuylin, 



Walden, Gurney, &c. 



There seems to be no evidence that the Common Stilt has ever bred 

 in our islands ; but it has occurred so many times that it may fairly be 

 classed as an accidental visitor on migration. It was first recorded as a 

 British bird by Sir Robert Sibbald in 1684, who described and figured, in 

 his ' History of Scotland/ one of a pair which had been shot at a lake 

 near Dumfries, and which were sent to him by a Mr. W. Dalmahoy. It 

 has occurred most frequently on the south and east coasts of England, 

 having wandered as far inland as Nottinghamshire. In Scotland it is 

 only of very rare occurrence ; but it has strayed as far north as the 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands. To Ireland it is even a less frequent 

 visitor, and only three or four instances of its capture are recorded. 



The Common Stilt is most abundant during the breeding-season in 

 India and Ceylon, where its numbers are increased during winter. Further 

 east it is found during the cold season in Burma ; and stragglers have 

 occurred in Cochin China, Timor, the Philippine Islands, and North 

 China. West of India it is a regular summer visitor to Afghanistan, 

 Turkestan, North Persia, Palestine, Asia Minor, to the salt-lakes of the 

 Kalmuk and Kirghis steppes, the lagoons on the shores of the Black Sea, 

 the delta of the Rhone, and the marismas of Southern Spain and Portugal. 

 It is an accidental straggler on migration to the rest of Europe as far 

 north as the Baltic. It is a resident in Northern Africa; but its numbers 



