BIRDS OF NEW YORK 295 



can Museum, and the Collection of the Long Island Historical Society 

 [5^^ Dutcher, Auk, lo: 272]. 



The bird is mostly an inhabitant of interior and western America 

 from Texas to Saskatchewan, wintering from the gulf coast southward. 



Family HIMANXOPODIDAEl 



Stilts 



Body rather small, but the legs excessively lengthy; hind toe wanting; 

 front toes semipalmate; bill slender, nearly straight, slightly curved 

 upward, tapering, acute; wings long and pointed; plumage blackish and 

 white. 



There are seven or eight species of Stilts, inhabiting warm or temperate 

 regions, but only one reaches the United States. 



Coues says, "on the ground whether walking or wading, the bird 

 moves gracefully, with measured steps; the long legs are much bent at 

 each step (only at the joint, however), and planted firmly, perfectly straight; 

 except under certain circumstances, as those Wilson narrates, there is 

 nothing vacillating, feeble or unsteady, either in the attitudes or the move- 

 ments of the birds. When feeding, the legs are bent backward with an acute 

 angle at the heel joint to bring the body lower; the latter is tilted forward 

 and downward over the center of equilibrium, where the feet rest, and 

 the long neck and bill reach the rest of the distance to the ground." 



Himantopus mexicanus (MuUer) 



Black-necked Stilt 



Charadrius mexicanus Miiller. Syst. Nat. Sup. 1776. p. 1 17 

 Himantopus nigricollis DeKay. Zool. N. Y. pt 2, p. 265, fig. 200 

 H i m a n t o ]) 11 s mexicanus A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. ^o- 226 



himdn'topus, Gr. i/uavroVous, strap-legged, crook-shanked; mexicd'nus, 



Lat., Mexican 



Description. Adult male: Black and white, the back of head and 

 neck, upper back, and wings, black; tail gray; front of head and neck, 

 lower back, rump, under parts, a spot before the eye, and another behind 



