BLACK-NECKED STILT. 
53 
creased in height with the dry twigs of salt marsh shrubs, roots 
of grass, sea-weed, and any other coarse materials which may 
be convenient, until the whole may now weigh two or three 
pounds. The eggs, four in number, are of a dark yellowish 
drab, thickly marked with large blotches of brownish black. 
These nests are often situated within fifteen or twenty yards 
of each other, the respective proprietors living in mutual 
friendship. 
While the females are sitting, their mates are either wading 
in the adjoining ponds, or traversing the marshes in the 
vicinity ; but on the approach of any intruder in their peace- 
able community, the whole troop assemble in the air, and flying 
steadily with their long legs extended behind them, keep up a 
continual yelping .note of click, click, click. Alighting on the 
marsh, they are often seen to drop their wings, and standing 
with their legs half bent, and trembling, they seem to sustain 
their bodies with difficulty. In this singular posture they will 
sometimes remain for several minutes, uttering a curring sound, 
and quivering their wings and long shanks as if in the act of 
laboriously balancing themselves on the ground. A great deal 
of this motion is, however, probably in manoeuvre, to draw the 
spectators’ attention from their nests. 
Although so sedentary in the breeding-season, at times they 
extend their visits to the shores, wading about in the water 
and mud in quest of their food, which they scoop up with 
great dexterity. On being wounded, while in the water, they 
sometimes attempt to escape by diving, — at which, however, 
they are by no means expert. In autumn their flesh is tender 
and well flavored. They depart for the South early in Sep- 
tember, and proceed probably to pass the winter in tropical 
America. 
The Stilt is a rare bird in this Eastern faunal province, excep- 
ting in Florida. It is occasionally seen along the sandy beaches of 
Massachusetts, and a few examples have been taken in Maine and 
New Brunswick and in Michigan. 
