496 
STILT. 
the above extensive marsh, all the other species are found during- the 
incubating season. 
We observed great abundance of Sterns in the fens of Lincolnshire, 
during the breeding season. They make a nest of flags or broad grass 
in the most marshy places, upon a tuft just above the surface of the 
water ; and the female lays, almost invariably, four eggs, weighing about 
three drams each. 
The flight of the Stern is not very unlike that of the nightjar ; its 
evolutions are rapid, and its turns short, by which means it sometimes 
escapes the talons of predaceous birds, as we had once an opportunity 
of witnessing. In a very hard gale of wind many Sterns were sporting 
over the w*ater, when a peregrine falcon passed like a shot, singled out 
his bird, and presently coming up with the chase, made a pounce, but 
the great dexterity of the Stern avoided the deadly stroke, and took a 
new direction. The falcon, by his superior velocity, soon regained 
sufficient elevation, to successively repeat his pounces, but at last relin- 
quished the pursuit. 
*The brown tern (^Sterna ohscura) is, according to Temminck, this 
species in its spring and summer plumage. The breast, the space be- 
tween the beak and the eyes, the throat, and front part of the neck, 
which are white in winter, are then of a brownish ash -colour.* 
STILT {Himantopus Melanopterus, Meyer.) 
Charadrius himantopus, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 255. 11 Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 690. — Lath. 
Ind. Orn. 2. p. 741. 3. — Himantopus melanoptems, Temm. Man. d’Orn. 2. p. 
528. — Himantopus, Raii, Syn. p. 106. 9. — 190. 7. — Ih. 193. 1. 1. 1. f. 3. — TTi//. 
' p. 219. t. 54 Brrs. 5. p. 33. 1. t. 3. f. 1. — Ib. 8vo. 2. p. 220. 1. — Flem. Br. 
Anim. p. 1 12. — Sibbald, 18. p. 13. 2. — L’Echasse, Buff. Ois. 8. p. 114. t. 8. — 
Long-legged Plover, Br. Zool. 2. No. 209. — Ib. fol. 128. Addenda. — Arct. Zool. 
2. No. 405. — White’s Hist. Selb. t. p. 258 Lath. Syn. 5. p. 195. 3. — Ib. Supp. 
p. 252. — Lewin’s Br. Birds, 3. t. 182. — Wale. Syn. 2. 1. 159. — Don. Br. Birds, 
3. t. 55. — Mont. Orn. Diet. — Ib. Supp. 
Provincial. — Longlegs. Longshanks. 
This extraordinary species is certainly the longest-legged bird, in 
proportion to its bulk, hitherto known. Length, from the apex of the 
bill to the end of the tail, thirteen inches ; from that to the end of the 
toes five inches more ; bill two inches and a half long, slender, and 
black ; irides red ; forehead, round the eyes, and rump, white ; crown 
of the head, back, and wings, glossy black ; tail the same, inclining to 
grey ; outer feathers white ; neck and under parts white ; the hind part 
of the neck marked with dusky streaks ; in some these streaks are 
wanting, the effect probably of maturity ; the thigh is bare of feathers 
three inches and a half from the knee ; legs, four inches and a half long, 
red ; the outer and middle toes connected by a membrane at the base. 
