BLACK-WINGED STILT. 



LIMTCOL&. 



305 

 SCOLOPACID^E. 



HIMANTOPUS CANDIDUS, Bonnaterre*. 

 BLACK- WINGED STILT. 



Himantopus melanopterus. 



HIMANTOPUS, Brwoni. Beak long, slender, slightly recurved at the tip, cylin- 

 drical, flattened at the base, compressed at the point, both mandibles grooved 

 on the sides along the basal half of their length. Nostrils lateral, linear, elon- 

 gated. Legs very long and slender, three toes in front, the middle toe united to 

 the outer toe by a membrane of considerable size, and to the interior toe by a 

 membrane of smaller size ; claws or nails very small, flat. Wings very long, the 

 first quill feather considerably the longest in the wing. 



THE BLACK- WINGED STILT was first recorded as a visitor 

 to these islands by S'ir Robert Sibbald,j who describes and 



* Tableau EncyclopeU et Method., i. p. 24 (1790). 

 + Ornithologie, v. p. 33 (1760). 



J Scotia Illustrata, II., p. 18, pis. xi. fig. 1, and xiii. fig. 2 (1684). 

 VOL. III. R R 



