278 



HIMANTOPUS. 



Himantopus albicollis, Vieillot, N. Did. d'Hist. Nat. x. p. 41 (1817). 

 Hypsibates himantopus [Linn.), Nitzsch, Ersch u. Grub. Encycl. xvi. p. 150 (1827). 

 Himantopus asiaticus^ Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 44. 

 Himantopus intermedius, Blyth, Cut. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 265 (1849). 

 Himantopus minor, Natterer , fide Hartlaub, Journ Orn. 1860, p. 170. 

 Himantopus albus, Ellman, Zoologist, 1861, p. 7470. 



Himantopus europseus, Sander, fide Gray, Hand-list of Birds, iii. p. 47 (1871). 

 Himantopus autumnalis {Hasselquist) , apud Gray, Holdsworth, Legge, Heuglin, Walden, 

 Gurney, &c. 



Literature. Plates. — Dresser, Birds of Europe, vii. pis. 535, 536. 



Habits. — Seebobm, British Birds, iii. p. 79. 

 Eggs. — Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 24. figs. 4, 6. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Common Stilt, when in fully adult male plumage, may be recognized by its pure 

 white head and neck. Less mature birds have blach on the hack of the neck, extending over 

 the crown, but not reaching the mantle. Young in first plumage have the black replaceil 

 by brown, which is mottled with buff. 



The Common Stilt is most abundant during the breeding-season in India and Ceylon, 



where its numbers are increased during winter. 



Further east it is found during the cold 



H. melanopterua. 



11 andiiius. 



H. avocetta. 



season in Burma ; and stragglers have occurred m New Zealand, Timor, Borneo, Cochin 

 China, the Philippine Islands, and North China. West of India it is a regular summer 

 visitor to Afghanistan, Turkestan, North Persia, Palestine, Asia Minor, to the salt lakes of 

 the Kalmuk and Kirghis steppes, the lagoons on the shores of the Black Sea, the delta 



