220 
LONG-LEGGED AVOSET. 
While the females are sitting, the males are either wading 
through the ponds, or roaming over the adjoining marshes; but 
should a person make his appearance, the whole collect together 
in the air, flying with their long legs extended behind them, 
keeping up a continual yelping note of tlick click click. Their 
flight is steady, and not in short sudden jerks like that of the 
Plover. As they frequently alight on the bare marsh, they drop 
their wings, stand with their legs half bent, and tremble as if 
unable to sustain the burden of their bodies. In this ridiculous 
posture they will sometimes stand for several minutes, uttering 
a curring sound, while from the corresponding quiverings of 
their wings and long legs, they seem to balance themselves with 
great difficulty. This singular manoeuvre is, no doubt, intended 
to induce a belief that they may be easily caught, and so turn 
the attention of the person from the pursuit of their nests and 
young to themselves. The Red-necked Avoset, which we have 
introduced in the present volume, practises the very same de- 
ception, in the same ludicrous manner, and both alight indis- 
criminately on the ground, or in the water. Both will also 
occasionally swim for a few feet, when they chance in wading 
to lose their depth, as I have had several times an opportunity 
of observing. 
The name by which this bird is known on the seacoast is the 
Stilt, or Tilt, or Long-shanks. They are but sparingly dispersed 
over the marshes, having, as has been already observed, their 
particular favourite spots; while in large intermediate tracts, 
there are few or none to be found. They occasionally visit the 
shore, wading about in the water, and in the mud, in search of 
food, which they scoop up very dexterously with their delicately 
formed bills. On being wounded while in the water, they at- 
tempt to escape by diving, at which they are by no means ex- 
pert. In autumn, their flesh is tender, and well tasted. They 
seldom raise more than one brood in the season, and depart for 
the south early in September. As they are well known in Ja- 
maica, it is probable some of them may winter in that and other 
of the West India Islands. 
