348 
PR/ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLE. 
slow steps, as if measuring the ground, or as if fearful of injuring their long and 
slender limbs. Their cry is described as being feeble and sad. 
Wilson, who had a good opportunity for observing the habits of this bird on the 
sea-coast of New Jersey, states that it arrives there, about the 25th of April, in small 
flocks of twenty or thirty, subdividing into smaller parties, associating during the 
remainder of the season in small companies of two or three pairs. It inhabits the 
upper portions of the salt-marshes near the uplands, where are numerous shallow 
pools above all but the highest tides. These pools abound with minute shellfish, 
aquatic insects, with the larvae, eggs, and spawn of various forms of marine life ; and 
upon these the Stilt chiefly feeds. A small party of a dozen or more usually make 
their stay in the thick grass in the vicinity of such localities, and there construct 
their nests. These are at first slightly formed of a small quantity of dry grass, 
hardly enough to keep the eggs from the damp ground. As incubation goes on, the 
nest is increased by the addition of dry twigs, roots of the salt-grass, seaweed, and 
various other substances, until quite a bulky nest is formed. The eggs are usually 
four in number, and described by him as of a dark yellowish clay-color, thickly 
marked with large blotches of black. They are often placed within fifteen or twenty 
yards of each other, and in the little colony the greatest harmony appears to prevail. 
While the females are sitting, their mates are usually feeding in the adjoining 
marshes ; but if any person approaches their nests, they all collect in the air, flying 
with their long legs extended behind them, and keep up a continued yelping note 
of clicJc-click-click. At the same time they droop their wings, stand with their legs 
half-bent and trembling, as if unable to keep themselves erect, and balancing their 
bodies with great difficulty. These manoeuvres are undoubtedly designed to turn the 
attention of the intruder from their eggs to themselves. If in wading this bird 
chances to get into the water beyond its depth, it can swim a short distance as well 
as the Avocet. It is known to Jersey hunters by the names of ‘‘ Tilt,” “ Stilt,” 
and “Longshanks.” It occasionally visits the uplands, and wades in fresh-water 
ponds in search of food, which it scoops up very dexterously with its delicately-formed 
bill, the extremities of which are soft, and provided with fine nervous membranes, 
enabling it to detect its food at once. The Stilt raises only a single brood, and departs 
south early in September. 
According to Audubon, a few of this species winter in Louisiana and in Florida, 
but the greater portion proceed beyond our southern limits. In 1837 this bird made 
its first appearance near Galveston in April, in small flocks of seven or eight, keeping 
near the small, shallow, brackish ponds where it sought its food ; it is then more shy 
than while breeding, and utters a whistling cry different from its notes of distress 
when nesting. It flies in a rapid manner, with regular beats of the wings and with 
extended neck and legs, and walks with a firm gait, the staggering mentioned by 
Wilson as noticed when breeding being simulated, and not real. This species is not 
common along the shores of the Carolinas. Its food is said to consist of insects, 
small Crustacea, worms, the young fry of fishes, and the small Libellulse. 
The Stilt probably breeds in all the Gulf States, in favorable situations. Dresser 
noticed it at Matamoras in Jrdy. On the 2d of June, 1864, he saw two pairs on 
Galveston Island; and on the 4th of July, after a heavy fall of rain, this bird all at 
once appeared in abundance in the flooded lands near San Antonio. Dr. Merrill, who 
had a still better opportunity of observing its habits in the same region, speaks of it 
as being both common and resident there. It breeds in the marshes in May, making 
its nests on wet grassy flats, and laying three or four eggs. The nests were platforms 
of straw and grass, often wet, and barely keeping the eggs out of the water. The 
