346 LONG-LEGGED AVOSET. 



in number, of a dark yellowish clay colour, thickly marked 

 with large blotches of black. These nests are often placed 

 within fifteen or twenty yards of each other ; but the greatest 

 harmony seems to prevail among the proprietors. 



While the females are sitting, the males are either wading 

 through the ponds, or roaming over the adjoining marshes ; 

 but should a person make his appearance, the whole collect 

 together in the air, flying with their long legs extended behind 

 them, keeping up a continual yelping note of click, click, click. 

 Their flight is steady, and not in short, sudden jerks, like that 

 of the plover. As they frequently alight on the bare marsh, 

 they drop their wings, stand with their legs half bent, and 

 trembling, as if unable to sustain the burden of their bodies. 

 In this ridiculous posture they will sometimes stand for 

 several minutes, uttering a curring sound, while, from the 

 corresponding quiverings of their wings and long legs, they 

 seem to balance themselves with great difficulty. This 

 singular manoeuvre is, no doubt, intended to induce a belief 

 that they may be easily caught, and so turn the attention of 

 the person from the pursuit of their nests and young to 

 themselves. The red-necked avoset, whom we have introduced 

 in the present volume, practises the very same deception, in 

 the same ludicrous manner, and both alight indiscriminately 

 on the ground or in the water. Both will also occasionally 

 swim for a few feet, when they chance, in wading, to lose 

 their depth, as I have had several times an opportunity of 

 observing. 



The name by which this bird is known on the sea-coast 

 is the stilt, or tilt, or long-shanks. They are but sparingly 

 dispersed over the marshes, having, as has been already 

 observed, their particular favourite spots, while in large inter- 

 mediate tracts there are few or none to be found. They 

 occasionally visit the shore, wading about in the water and in 

 the mud in search of food, which they scoop up very dexter- 

 ously with their delicately-formed bills. On being wounded 

 while in the water, they attempt to escape by diving, at which 



