pois ; and his legs and thighs measure usually about 

 twenty inches. But four pounds are fifteen times 

 and a fraction more than four ounces and one quar- 

 ter ; 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., some- 

 what more than ten feet ; such a monstrous propor- 

 tion 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 mus- 

 cles 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 preserve 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 

 all Great Britain, but observed it often in the cabi- 

 nets of the curious at Paris. Hasselquist says 

 that it migrates to Egypt in the autumn : and a 

 most accurate observer of nature has assured me 



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