AVOCET AND STILTS. 



167 



THE FOURTH SUB-FAMILY OF THE SNIPES. THE STILTS, OR 

 STILT PLOVERS (Himar.topina}. 



These birds are remarkable for their extreme length of leg, which exceeds the whole extent 

 of the body, and for their long slender bill. The Stilts and the Avocets (Recurvirostra] comprise 

 the two genera which constitute the sub-family. In the last-named birds the bill is slender and 

 up-turned. Both genera are world-wide in their distribution, occurring in all six regions of the 



globe, though they do not 

 wander very far north. In 

 England the Avocet is a 

 very rare bird, though it is 

 still plentiful in some parts 

 of Holland, where it can find 

 suitable breeding-places. As 

 a rule, Avocets frequent the 

 pools in marshes or by the 

 margins of rivers, but some- 

 species occur high up in the 

 mountains, as in the case of 

 the Avocet of the Andes.. 

 The feet are webbed to such 

 an extent that early writers 

 placed them among the swim- 

 ming birds, but as a matter 

 of fact they never swim, 

 unless foi'ced to do so, though 

 the webbed feet are admir- 

 ably adapted for the pro- 

 gression of the bird over the- 

 slimy ooze and mud where- 

 it seeks its food. 



The Stilts have a 

 straight bill, but in other 

 respects they are not un- 

 like the Avocets, and, like 

 the latter, most of the 

 species have a black and 

 white plumage, though in 

 New Zealand a jet-black 

 Stilt occurs. They are more 

 AVOCET. sociable in their Avays than 



the Avocets, being sometimes 



found in large flocks, which separate into pairs at the time of the breeding season. At the latter 

 season they frequent fresh or brackish water, but in the winter they are found in the vicinity of 

 salt lakes. The Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus hiniantopus) has more than ones occurred in 

 England. It is a very slender bird, measuring about fourteen inches in length, and the plumage 

 is black and white, the former changing in winter to an ashy blackish shade. The bill is black, 

 the legs pink or carmine-red, and the eye is beautiful carmine. 



THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE WADING BIRDS, OR GRALLJE. 

 THE PLOVERS (Charadriidte). 



These Wading-birds are similar in habits and ways to many of the Sandpipers, but are much 

 more stoutly built, and have, as a rule, not nearly such long bills. The latter rarely exceeds 



