180 
BLACK-WINGED LONGSHANKS. 
Wale. Sijn. 2. pi. 159. Don. Brit. Birds, S. pi. 55. Monl, 
Orn. Dict.2. and Supp. Betu. Brit. Birds, 2. 4. Slum, Mat. 
Misc. pi. 195. Shaw, Zool. Led. 1. pi. 80. Bi?ig. Anim. 
Biog. 2. 312. 
Young. — Himantopus niexicanus. Briss. Orn. 5. 36. 
This remarkable bird measures, from the end of 
the beak to that of the tail, thirteen inches, but to 
the end of the claws nearly eighteen : its beak is 
nearly two inches and a half long, slender and black : 
the irides are red : the forehead, round the eyes, the 
neck, breast, and all the under parts, are pure white, 
shaded on the breast and belly with rose-colour : the 
occiput and nape are black, or dusky spotted with 
white : the back and wings are black, glossed with 
green : the tail is ash-colour : the legs are deep ver- 
milion. In the old males, the nape (and sometimes 
the occiput) becomes white. The female is smaller : 
the black on the back and wings is not glossed with 
green, but is of a brownish cast. The young have 
the legs orange-colour : the feathers of the back and 
wings brown edged with whitish, those on the top of 
the head, the occiput, and the nape are greyish- 
black, with whitish borders. 
A very general inhabitant of the temperate and 
tropical regions of the globe ; occurring in plenty on 
the borders of the sea, and saline lakes of Asia, but 
less frequently on those of Europe and Africa : it is 
also found in America. Several specimens have been 
shot in Britain at various periods. Sibbald mentions 
two being shot in Scotland, Pennant one at Oxford, 
and White, of Selbourne, procured one (out of a flock 
of six) that was seen on the borders of a large lake. 
