STILT. 463 
HIMANTOPUS NIGRICOLLIS V. 
Stile. | 
Himantopus nigricollis, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 380 (probable), 480; Re- 
print, 1861, 10; Food of Birds, ete, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 572; Reprint, 1875, 
12,— LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 14; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., 
i, 1879, 182; Reprint, 16, 
Himantepus nigricollis, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., x, 1817, 42. 
Glossy-black above; forehead, sides cf head and neck, rump and under parts white ; 
tail white or ashy; bill black; legs carmine; young with back and wings brown. 
Length, 18-15; wings, 8-9; tail, 3; tarsus, 4. 
Habitat, United States generally. Mexico, part of West Indies, Central America, and 
South America to Peru and Brazil. 
Rare summer visitor. Perhapsbreeds. The Stilt has been repeatedly 
taken on Lake Erie, as [1 am informed by Mr. Winslow. Mr. Langdon 
notes a specimen from near Cincinnati on the authority of Mr. Dury. I 
have never meet with it, though birds answering to its description have 
been reported as occuring here. 7 
Dr. Coues gives the following description of their habits and eggs: 
“¢ Avocets and Stilts correspond with each other in habits as closely as they do in form. 
One of the most marked physical differences is found in the structure of the feet. Avocets 
have a hind toe, which the Stilts have not, and their feet are almost completely webbed, 
so that they are among the best swimmers of the long-legged fraternity. Stilts, on the 
contrary, scarcely swim at all, and never except on an emergency. When the Avocets 
are wading about, it often happens that they get beyond their depth, when, instead of 
rising on wing, they keepon as if nothing had happened to take them off theirfeet. If 
they are wounded, they sometimes escape by diving as well as swimming.” 
‘The wings of the Stilt are very long and pointed, as well as ample in width; its 
flight, in consequence, is firm, vigorous, and swift. When folded they reach beyond 
the tip of the tail, and as the under-coverts reach to the end, the bird tapers off behind 
to afine point. The black shorter quills and secondaries meet across the back, hiding 
the white rump and tail. On the ground, whether walking or wading, the bird moves 
gracefully, with measured steps ; the long legs are much bent at each step (only ai the 
jcint, however!), and planted firmly, perfectly straight; excepting under certain cir- 
cumstances, as those Wilson narrates, there is nothing vacillating, feeble or unsteady, 
either in the attitudes or movements of the birds. When feeding, the legs are bent back- 
ward with an acute angle at the heel-joint, to bring the body lower; the latter is tilted 
forward and downward over the centre of equilibrium, where the feet, and the long neck 
and bill reach the rest of the distance to the ground. Its food consists of aquatic in- 
sects of all sorts, probably also of the ova or smallest fry of fish, and various kinds of 
lacustrine vegetation ; in seeking it, the whole head is frequently immersed in the 
water. The eggs appear very large for the size of the bird; they are pyriform in shape, 
broad at one end and pointed at the other; four constitute a nest-full. But both size 
and shape vary a good deal, Two specimens I selected as representing the extremes in 
@ large series measured, respectively, 1.85 by 1.15, and 1.70 by 1.25; the former being 
long and narrow, the latter short and comparatively blunt. The coloris dark ochraceous, 
