HIMANTOPUS, 239 



a large lake belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, and lying 

 between Wolmer Forest and the town of Farnham, in the 

 county of Surrey. The pond-keeper says there were three 

 brace in the flock ; but that, after he had satisfied his curiosity, 

 he suffered the sixth to remain unmolested. One of these 

 specimens I procured, and found the length of the legs to be 

 so extraordinary, that, at first sight, one might have supposed 

 the shanks had'been fastened on to impose on the credulity of 

 the beholder : they were legs in caricatura; and had we seen 

 such proportions on a Chinese or Japan screen, we should have 

 made large allowances for the fancy of the draughtsman. These 

 birds are of the plover family, and might, with propriety, be 

 called the stilt-plovers. Brisson, under that idea, gives them 

 the apposite name of Vechasse. My specimen, when drawn, 

 and stuffed with pepper, weighed only four ounces and a quar- 

 ter, though the naked part of the thigh measured three inches 

 and a half, and the legs four inches arid a half : Hence we may 

 safely assert, that these birds exhibit, weight for inches, incom- 

 parably the greatest length of legs of any known bird. The 

 flamingo, for instance, is one of the most long-legged birds, 

 and yet it bears no manner of proportion to the himantopus ; 

 for a cock flamingo weighs, at an average, about four pounds 

 avoirdupois ; and his legs and thighs measure usually about 

 twenty inches. But four pounds are fifteen times and a frac- 

 tion more than four ounces and one quarter : and if four ounces 

 and a quarter have eight inches of legs, four pounds must have 

 one hundred and twenty inches and a fraction of legs, viz. 

 somewhat more than ten feet, such a monstrous proportion 

 as the world never saw! If you should try the experiment in 

 still larger birds, the disparity would still increase. It must 

 be matter of great curiosity to see the stilt-plover move ; to 

 observe how it can wield such a length of lever with such 

 feeble muscles as the thighs seem to be furnished with. At 

 best, one should expect it to be but a bad walker : but what 

 adds to the wonder is, that it has no back toe. Now, without 

 that steady prop to support its steps, it must be liable, in 

 speculation, to perpetual vacillations, and seldom able to pre- 

 serve the true centre of gravity. 



The old name of himantopus is taken from Pliny; and, by an 

 awkward metaphor, implies that the legs are as slender and 

 pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather. Neither Willughby 

 nor Ray, in all their curious researches, either at home or 

 abroad, ever saw this bird. Mr Pennant never met with it in 



