THE STILT. 
97 
THE BLACK-NECKED STILT. 
( Himantopus nigricollis.') 
This curious bird, under the name of Long-legged Avoset, 
is described by Mr. Wilson in his usual lively and interest- 
ing style. He says : — 
This species arrives on the sea-coast of New Jersey about 
the 25th of April, in small, detached flocks, of twenty or 
thirty together. These sometimes again subdivide into 
lesser parties ; but it rarely happens that a pair is found 
solitary, as, during the breeding season, they usually asso- 
ciate in small companies. On ? their first arrival, and, 
indeed, during the whole of their residence, they inhabit 
those particular parts of the salt marshes pretty high up 
towards the land, that are broken into numerous shallow 
pools, but are not usually overflowed by the tides during 
the summer. These pools, or ponds, are generally so shal- 
low, that, with their long legs, the Avosets can easily wade 
them in every direction ) and, as they abound with minute 
shell-fish, and multitudes of aquatic insects and their larvae, 
besides the eggs and spawn of others deposited in the soft 
mud below, these birds find here an abundant supply of 
food, and are almost continually seen wading about in such 
places, often up to the breast in water. 
In the vicinity of these bald places, as they are called 
by the country people, and at the distance of forty or fifty 
yards off, among the thick tufts of grass, one of these small 
