Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Himantopus. 



Subfamily Totanin/e. 



COMMON STILT. 



HIMANTOPUS MELANOPTERUS— itf,?;/^/-. 



Geographical Distribution. — British: Occasional straggler 

 on migration ; chiefly individuals that have overshot the mark on 

 their way to their European breeding grounds in spring, but 

 occasionally stray birds that have joined the western stream of 

 migration in autumn. Has been known as an abnormal visitor 

 to our shores for upwards of two hundred years. Most frequently 

 observed on the south and east coasts of England, especially 

 in Norfolk (12 examples). Occasionally met with inland, in 

 Notts, Oxford, etc. Very rare in Scotland, where, however, it 

 has been met with as far north as the Orkney and Shetland 

 Islands; in Ireland about halfa-dozen examples are on record. 

 Foreign . Southern and western Palaearctic region. Oriental and 

 Ethiopian regions. Summer visitor to the marshes of Southern 

 Spain and Portugal, the delta of the Rhone, Sicily, the Danube 

 valley (Neuseidler See, near Vienna), and the lagoons of the 

 Black Sea. Elsewhere in Europe it is only an accidental straggler 

 on migration, as such visiting Northern France, Holland, Denmark, 

 and Germany.- Resident in many parts of Africa, where it has 

 been found breeding as far south as the Berg river, and is said to 

 do so on the coasts of Madagascar. Most abundant in the 

 Ethiopian region during winter, its numbers being then increased 

 by migrants from the northern shores of the Mediterranean ; but 

 it is said to be a resident in Algeria, and is met with in the 

 Canaries. Eastwards it is a summer visitor to the Kirghiz and 

 Kalmuk steppes, Asia Minor, Palestine, North Persia, Turkestan, 

 and Afghanistan, the birds breeding in this area wintering in 



