54 
AMERICAN STILT. 
within fifteen or twenty yards of each other; but the greatest har- 
mony seems to prevail among the proprietors. 
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, keep- 
ing up a continual yelping note of click click click. Their flight is 
steady, and not in short sudden jerks like that of the Plover. As 
tliey fre(|uently alight on the bare marsh, they drop their wings, 
stand with their legs half bent, and tremble as if unable to sus- 
tain 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 A^olume, 
practises the very same deception, in the same ludicrous manner ; 
and both alight indiscriminately 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 op- 
portunity of observing. 
The names by which this bird is known on the seacoast are 
the Stilt, Tilt, and Long-shanks. They are but sparingly dis- 
persed over the marshes, having, as has been already observed, 
their particular favorite 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 attempt to es- 
cape by diving, at which they are by no means expert. In au- 
