The Black-necked Stilt 



pep, or krek, krek, krek, 

 incessantly repeated. 

 The din is so great and 

 so constant that, if 

 obliged to work in the 

 swamps all day, one's 

 head fairly aches with 

 the clamor before the 

 day's end. 



While all are shout- 

 ing lustily, the birds 

 whose nests are more 

 immediately threatened 

 are doing decoy stunts 

 of several fascinating 

 sorts. The favorite line 

 of effort is the broken- 

 leg act, in which the 

 bird collapses suddenly, 

 as though one of its 

 little pipe-stem legs had 

 snapped in two. The 

 act is performed with 

 such sincerity, even 

 when the bird is stand- 

 ing in only an inch or so 

 of water, that it never 

 ceases to be amusing. 

 Moreover, the trick is 

 repeated diligently every 

 few feet, so that it begins 

 to look as though the 

 bird had taken some 

 fakir vow to prostrate 

 itself every third or 

 fourth step. The Avocet, now that one thinks of it, does the same thing; 

 but it does it awkwardly or, as it were, cautiously, and so unconvincingly. 

 It has manifestly copied from its more agile neighbor. 



The second line of effort, most faithfully pursued, is wing- fluttering. 

 In this, again, the Stilt is rather the mistress. It has perfected a trick 

 of putting up one wing at a time and letting the wind towsle it about, 

 as though it were really broken. Of course it also flutters both wings, and 



Taken near Los Banos Photo by the A uthor 



THE LONG LEGS MAKE AN EXCELLENT RUDDER 



1210 



