248 -GRALLATORES. HIMANTOPUS. STILT. 
Tus bird, of such singular appearance, from the great 
length of its legs, in proportion to the size of its body, is on- 
Occasional ly known to us as an occasional visitant,—a few specimens 
visitant. 
General 
descrip- 
tion. 
Male. 
Female. 
having been from time to time killed in different parts of 
these islands. It is met with in France, Germany, and the 
southern parts of Continental Europe, but only as a bird of 
passage, its chief habitats being in Hungary and Russia, up- 
on the margins of the widely extended saline lakes of those 
countries, where it breeds and rears its young. It is also 
common in various parts of Asia, and occurs in Egypt and 
other districts of the African continent. Of its habits and 
other peculiarities I am unable to give any detailed account, 
never having been fortunate enough to see the bird in a liv- 
ing state, nor can I supply this deficiency by extracts from 
any other author *. Judging, however, that they will, in a 
great measure, resemble those of others of this genus, I refer 
my readers to Witson’s graphic account of an American 
species closely related to the present one, and which he has 
described under the title of Recurvirostra Himantopus. 
Priate 39.* Represents this bird of the natural size. 
Bill black. TIrides red. Forehead, region of the eyes, 
sides and front of the neck, lower part of the back, and 
the under parts white; the latter tinged with rose-red. 
Occiput and nape of the neck greyish-black. Hind part 
of the neck white, many of the feathers being tipped 
with greyish-black. Mantle, scapulars, wing-coverts, 
and quills black, glossed with duck-green. ‘Tail ash- 
grey. Legs and toes vermilion-red. 'Tarsi thin and 
reticulated. 
The female is inferior in size, and the dark parts of her 
plumage incline more to brown, without exhibiting the 
glossy green lustre of the male bird. 
* I am informed that there is a coloured figure and description of this 
bird, under its former title of Long-legged Plover, in Dr Suaw’s “ Natural- 
ists’ Miscellany,” (a periodical work of considerable ability, but now diffi- 
cult to be met with), taken from a recent specimen transmitted to that 
distinguished naturalist by a clergyman in Wales, where the bird was killed. 
