OF SELBORNE. 
259 
raiifts by the terms of h'mantopus, or loripes, and charadrius himan- 
topus, were fliot upon the verge of Fr'injloam-pondy a large hike be- 
longing to the Bifliop of lVvnchefia\ and lying between PVcclmer- 
forejl, and the town of Farnham, in the county of Surrey. The p )nd 
keeper fays there were three brace in the flock ; but that, after he 
had fatisfied his curiofity, he fuffered the fixth to remain unmo- 
lefted. One of thefe fpecimens I procured, and found the length 
of the legs to be fo extraordinary, that, at firft fight, one might 
have fuppofed the (hanks had been faftened on to impofe on the 
credulity of the beholder : they were legs in caricatura ; and had 
we feen fuch proportions on a Ch'inefe or Japan fcreen we fliould 
have made large allowances for the fancy of the draughtfman. 
Thefe birds are of the plover family, and might widi propriety be 
called the Jlilt plovers. Briffbn, under that idea, gives them the 
appoflte name of I'echajfe. My fpecimen, when drawn and ftuffed 
with pepper, weighed only four ounces and a quarter, though the 
naked part of the thigh meafured three inches and an half, and the 
legs four inches and an half. Hence we may fafely affert that thefe 
birds exhibit, weight for inches, incomparably the greatefl: length 
of legs of any known bird. The Jlamingo, for inflance, is one of the 
moft long legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of proportion 
to the himantopus; for a cock, fami^go weighs, at an average, about 
four pounds avoirdupois ; and his legs and thighs meafure ufually 
about twenty inches. But four pounds are fifteen times and a 
fradtion more than four ounces, and one quarter ; and if four 
ounces and a quarter have eight inches of legs, four pounds nuift 
have one hundred and twenty inches and a fraftion of legs ; viz, 
fomewhat more than ten feet ; fuch a monftrous proportion as the 
world never faw! If you fhould try the experiment in ftill larger 
birds the difparity would ftill increafe. It mufl be matter of great 
LI? curiofitv 
