51 



BLACK-WINGED STILT. 



HIMANTOPUS MELANOPTERUS, Meyer. 



Ilimaiitopus melanopteruSj Meyer, Tetnm. Man. d'Oru. ii. 



p. 528 (1820) ; Macg. iv. p. 312; Hewitson, ii. p. 341. 

 Charadrius himantopus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 255. 

 Hypsibates himantopus, Naum. viii. p. 191, xiii. p. 241. 

 Himantopus candidus, Yarr. ed. •4, iii. p. 305 ; Dresser, vii. 



p. 587. 



Echasse blanche, French ; Stelzenldufer, Strandreiler, 

 German ; Cigumuela, Spanish. 



The Stilt is an irregular and uncommon summer 

 visitor to our islands, and has occurred in Scotland 

 and Ireland as well as in England ; but, as far as I 

 am aware, there is no existing record of its having ever 

 been found nesting in any part of the United Kingdom. 

 In Southern Europe it is locally abundant in the 

 breeding-season, and occurs as an occasional straggler 

 to most parts of that continent. 



The Stilt nests in wet marshes, very often building 

 actually on the siu'face of shallow pools amongst the 

 aquatic vegetation that covers them, but more fre- 

 quently on the mud of the open marsh ; the nests, of 

 course, vary in solidity according to their situation, but 

 are generally formed of dry coarse grass and small 



