23 
different^k^^^^*^' ^ distress, sounding like gue-que, the sexes crying responsively and in 
^ e young can run nimbly almost immediately after quitting the egg. They often elude capture 
th close to the ground ; and their colours so exactly harmonize with their surroundings 
s uatt' impossible to discover them. One which I found, after an hour’s diligent search, 
Q ing on the sand near the edge of a sea-pond, remained perfectly motionless till I had taken it 
up in my hand, when it struggled to escape and uttered a feeble cheep, cheep, whereupon the old birds 
e excited, flew round me in circles, and repeatedly darted up to within two feet of my head, 
oring all the time a sharp yelping cry of remonstrance. 
of ‘t observed that the Stilt sometimes feigns lameness to draw intruders away from the vicinity 
Ll 1 ^ limping or rather tumbling along the ground, trailing its long legs as if 
p ess y bioken, and uttering short cries as if in an agony of pain, persistently keeping up the 
option till it had drawn the trespassers to a safe distance from the object of its solicitude, when it 
rose high in the air with an unmistakable note of relief in quick repetition. 
It usually commences to breed in October ; but I have found newly hatched young ones as late 
s t e flist week in January. It forms a very rude nest, if, indeed, it deserves that name ; and some- 
imes deposits its eggs on the bare ground, a mere depression on the surface being selected for the 
purpose. The eggs are usually four in number, decidedly ovoido-conical in form, measuring 1‘7 inch 
cn^th by 1 2 in breadth, and are of a warm yellowish brown, handsomely marked and spotted over 
the entire surface with brownish black. 
Chick of White-headed Stilt (natural size). 
