SCOLOPACIN^. NUMENIUS. 
253 
very long and slender; body rather compact. Legs ex- 
tremely elongated, slender ; tibia bare for more than half 
its length, covered anteriorly with large curved scutella ; 
tarsus very long, moderately compressed, scutellate before, 
reticulate on the sides ; toes of moderate length, slender ; 
first toe wanting ; outer a little longer than inner, anterior 
toes webbed at the base. Claws small, nearly straight, 
moderately compressed. Plumage ordinary. Wings very 
long, of moderate breadth, acute, the first quill longest. 
Tail short, even, of twelve feathers. 
356. 1. Himantopus nigricollis, ViEiLL. Black-necked Stilt. 
—Lawyer. 
PLATE CCCXXVIIl. Male. 
Bill black ; feet lake-coloured ; upper part of head, fore part and 
sides of neck, and all the lower parts, together with the hind part of 
the back, rump, and tail, white, the middle feathers of the latter tinged 
with ash-grey ; hind neck, fore part of back, scapulars, wings, and 
lower wing-coverts, bluish-black, glossed with green. Young indivi- 
duals have only the forehead white, and the back greyish-brown, 
Male, 14L 27. Female, 14, 25|. 
Rather common in Texas during spring. Breeds on dilFerent parts 
of the Atlantic coast, as far as Long Island. A few spend the winter 
about the mouths of the Mississippi. Migratory, 
Long-legged Avocet, Recurvirostra Himantopus, WiLS. Amer, Orn, v, vii. p. 48. 
Himantopus nigricollis, Bonap. Syn. p. 322. 
Black-necked Stilt, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 8. 
Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus nigricollis, Aun. Orn. Biog. v, iv. p. 247, 
GENUS X. NUMENIUS, Briss. CURLEW, 
Bill very long, slender, subcylindrical, slightly compressed, 
more or less arcuate or decurved ; upper mandible with the 
ridge broad and flattened at the base, broad and rounded in 
the rest of its extent, a deep groove running from the nos- 
trils to near the tip, which is decurved, enlarged so as to 
form an oblong obtuse knob, projecting beyond the point 
of the lower mandible, the edges rounded ; lower mandible 
similar in its curvature to the upper, its angle extremely 
narrow, and extending to near the middle, the ridge rounded. 
