100 FEATHERED GAME 



and extremely rare in New England, is another 

 curious bird, the Stilt, also called Longshanks, 

 and the Lawyer. 



The Stilt is from fourteen to fifteen inches 

 long and from twenty- four to twenty-eight 

 inches across his wings ; these are proportion- 

 ately considerably longer than the avocet's, 

 when folded, extending quite a little beyond the 

 tail. Above, mainly black if the bird is at rest, 

 as the wings are closed over the white upjDer 

 parts and the tail. The black is also carried 

 over the back of the neck and the top of the 

 head, around the eye, leaving the forehead and a 

 patch on the eyelids and behind the eye white, 

 as are also the sides of the neck, throat, head 

 below the eyes and the entire under parts. 

 The rump and tail coverts are white; the tail 

 grayish white. The bill is black, very slender, 

 usually straight, though sometimes a trifle bent 

 upward from the centre. Legs and eyes car- 

 mine. 



Its range is virtually the same as the avocet's, 

 going farther south in winter, to Peru and Bra- 

 zil as well as the West Indies, and in its north- 

 erly flights rarely going beyond the United 

 States. 



