HIMANTOPUS. 



287 



Recurvirostra andina, Philippi §■ Landbeck, Wiegm. Arch. 1863, pt. i. p. 131. 

 Himantopus andinus {Phil. $$ Landb.), Seebohm, Ibis, 1886, p. 232. 



Synonym}'. 



Plates. — Harting, Ibis, 1874, pi. ix. 

 Habits. — Philippi & Landbeck, loc. cit. 

 Eggs. — Unknown. 



Literature. 



The Peruvian Stilt is the only species of the genus having webbed feet and a hind toe 

 which has no white on the secondaries. 



It was for a long time only known from a single example obtained more than thirty 

 years ago by Dr. Philippi near the salt lake of Atacama, about 16,000 feet above the level 

 of the Pacific Ocean, on the confines of Peru and Chili. In 1886, however, three examples 

 were obtained by Mr. Rahmer near Lake Huasco, about 10,000 feet above the sea, and 

 about 200 miles further north. (Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1886, p. 404.) 



It is specially interesting as an example of the connexion between the habits of a bird 

 and the shape of its wings, a connexion doubtless of cause and effect. In the following 

 table the Peruvian Stilt is compared with its two European representatives : — 



Distance from 

 carpal joint to tip of 

 innermost primary. 



Peruvian Stilt 6 in. 



Common Avocet . . . . . 5 in. 

 Common Stilt 4^ in. 



From tip of innermost 

 primary to tip of 

 longest primary. 



41 in. 



It is remarkable how the primaries are developed, apparently at the expense of the 

 secondaries, in the two migratory species. 



The Peruvian Stilt is the sole representative of the Semi-Stilts which, according to my 

 hypothesis, emigrated from the Polar Basin along the Pacific coast of America. If the 

 Stilts be regarded as generically distinct from the Avocets, the Peruvian Stilt has more 

 right to demand a genus for itself than the Banded Avocet, for which the genus Clado- 

 rhynchus has been provided. The webbing of its feet is almost as much developed as that 

 of the Avocets, with which it also agrees in having a recurved bill and a small hind toe. 

 The black mantle, black scapulars, and black wings are, however, so utterly unlike any 

 Avocet, and are so highly characteristic of every Stilt, that there can be no doubt that its 

 affinities are as much or more with the latter than with the former. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



Non-migra- 

 tory wings. 



Nearest 

 allies. 



