STILT. 



HiMANTOPDS NIGEICOLLIS V. 



463 



stilt. 



Eimanlojjus nigric«Ui8, Whkaton, Ohio Agric. Eep. for 1860, 380 (probable), 460 ; Ke- 

 print, 1861, 10 ; Food of Birds, etc , Ohio Agrio. Eep. for 1874, 572 ; Reprint, 1875, 

 12. — Langdon, Cat. Birds of Gin., 1877, 14 ; Reviaed List, Jonrn. Gin. Soo. Nat. Hiat., 

 i, 1879, 182; Reprint, 16. 



Simantopus nignooUis, Vieixlot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., x, 1817, 42. 



Glossy-black above ; forehead, sides of head and neck, rnmp and under pirts white ; 

 tail -white or aahy ; bill black ; legs carmine ; young with back and wings brown. 

 Length, 13-15 ; wings, 8-9 ; tail, 3 ; tarsus, 4. 



Habitat, United States generally. Mexico, part of West Indies, Central America, and 

 South America to Peru and Brazil. 



Bare summer visitor. Perhaps breeds. The Stilt has been repeatedly 

 taken on Lake Erie, aa I am informed by Mr. Winslow. Mr. Langdon 

 notes a specimen from near Cincinnati on the authority of Mr. Dury. I 

 have never meet with it, though birds answering to its description have 

 been reported as occuring here. 



Dr. Coues gives the following description of their habits and eggs : 



" Avooets and Stilts correspond with each other in habits as closely as they do in form. 

 One of the most marked physical differences is found in the stractore of the feet. Avooats 

 have a hind toe, which the Stilts have not, and their feet are almost completely webbed, 

 BO that they are among the beat swimmers of the long-legged fraternity. Stilts, on the 

 contrary, scarcely swim at all, and never except on an emergency. When the Avocets 

 are wading about, it often happens that they get beyond their depth, when, inatead of 

 rising on wing, they keep on aa if nothing had happened to take them off their faet. If 

 they are wounded, they sometimes escape by diving aa well aa swimming." 



"The wings of the Stilt are very long and pointed, as well aa ample in width; its 

 flight, in consequence, i» firm, vigorous, and swift. When folded they reach beyond 

 the tip of the tail, and aa the nnder-ooverts roach to the end, the bird topers off behind 

 to a fine point. The black shorter qaiHa and secondaries meet across the back, hiding 

 the white rump and tail. On the ground, whether walking or wading, the bird laoves 

 gracefully, with measured steps ; the l»ng legs are much tent at each «tep (only at the 

 joint, however!), and planted firmly, parfectly straight; excepting under eertain cir- 

 cumstanoee, as those Wilson narrates, there is nothing vacillating, feeble or unsteady, 

 either in the attitudes or movements ef the birds. When feeding, the lege are l»ent back- 

 ward with an acute angle at the heel-jeint, ta bring the body lower ; the latter is tilted 

 forward and downward over the eenise of eqailibtium, where the feet, and the long n£ok 

 and bill reach the reet of the diete>aee to the gceand. It* feed oonaiebi of eqoatic in- 

 sects of aU Borte, probaWy also of tfce ova or small 6«t fiy of fieb, and varioaa kinds of 

 lacustrine v^etation ; in seekmg it, the whole head ia frcqiwntly immersed in the 

 water. The eggs appenr very large for the siae ef the bird ; they tie pyriform io shape, 

 broad at erne end and pointed at the other ; four eonstitnte a nest-fall. Bat both siza 

 and shape vsuy a good deal. Two specimens I selected ai representing the extremes in 

 a large series meaeared, respeotively, 1.85 by 1.15, and 1.70 by 1.25 ; the former being 

 long and nfllTOw, the laWer short and comparatively blunt. The color is dark oohraoeooE, 



