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Rennie only in 1831; but, recommended by its definiteness and brevity, it has wholly supplanted the second and older one. The bird is the Charadrius himanlopus' of See also:

LINNAEUS

Linnaeus, the Himantopus candidus or melanopterus of See also:

MODERN

modern writers, and belongs to the See also:

GROUP

group Limicolae, having been usually placed in the See also:

FAMILY

family Scolopacidae, though it might be quite as reasonably referred to the Charadriidae, and, with its See also:

ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1813-1903)

allies to be immediately mentioned, would seem to be not very distant from Haematopus, notwithstanding the wonderful development of its legs and the slenderness of its See also:

BILL

bill. The stilt obtains its See also:

food by wading in shallow See also:

WATER

water and seizing the See also:

INSECTS

insects that See also:

FLY (formed on the root of the supposed original Tent. fleugan, to fly)

fly over or See also:

FLOAT (in O. Eng. floc and flota, in the verbal form f eotan; the Teutonic root is flut-, another form of flu-, seen in " flow," cf. " fleet "; the root is seen in Gr. a-M e, to sail, Lat. pluere, to rain; the Lat, fluere and fluctus, wave, is not connect

float upon its See also:

SURFACE

surface or the small crustaceans that swim beneath, for which purpose its slender extremities are, as might be expected, admirably adapted. Widely spread over See also:

ASIA

Asia, See also:

North See also:

Africa, and See also:

SOUTHERN

Southern See also:

EUROPE

Europe, it has many times visited See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain—though always as a straggler, for it is not known to breed to the northward of the See also:

DANUBE (Ger. Donau, Hungarian Duna, Rumanian Dunarea, Lat. Danubius or Danuvius, and in the lower part of its course Ister)

Danube valley—and its occurrence in See also:

Scotland (near See also:

DUMFRIES (Gaelic, " the fort in the copse ")

Dumfries) I The possible confusion by See also:

Pliny's transcribers of this word with Haematopus is referred to under OYSTERCATCHER. Himantopus, with its See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent Loripes, " by an awkward See also:

METAPHOR

metaphor," as re-marked by See also:

Gilbert See also:

White, " implies that the legs are as slender and pliant as if cut out of a thong of See also:

leather."was noticed by See also:

SIBBALD, SIR ROBERT (1641-1722)

Sibbald so long ago as 1684. It chiefly resorts to pools or lakes with a margin of mud, on which it constructs a slight See also:

NEST

nest, banked See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round or just raised above the level so as to keep its eggs dry (See also:

IBIS

Ibis, 1859, p. 360); but sometimes they are laid in a tuft of grass. They are four in number, and, except in size, closely resemble those of the oystercatcher (q.v.). The bird has the See also:

head, See also:

NECK (O. Eng. hnecca; the word appears in many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch ride, Ger. Nacken; in O. E. the common word was heals; cf. Ger. Hals)

neck, and See also:

LOWER

lower parts white, the back and wings glossy See also:

black, the irides red, and the bare part of the legs See also:

PINK

pink.

In See also:

AMERICA

America the genus has two representatives, one 2 (After See also:

Gosse.) FIG. 1.—Black-necked See also:

AMERICAN

American Stilt. (fig. I) closely resembling that just described, but rather smaller and with a black See also:

CROWN

crown and nape. This is H. nigricollis or mexicanus, and occurs from New See also:

England to the See also:

MIDDLE

middle of See also:

South America, beyond which it is replaced by H. brasiliensis, which has the crown white. The stilt inhabiting See also:

India is now recognized to be H. candidus, but See also:

AUSTRALIA

Australia possesses a distinct See also:

SPECIES

species, H. novae-hollandiae, which also occurs in New See also:

ZEALAND (also SEALAND Or SEELAND; Danish Sjaelland)

Zealand, though that See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country has in addition a species See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to it, H. novaezelandiae, differing from all the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest by assuming in the breeding-See also:

SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season an altogether black plumage. Australia, however, presents another See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form, which is the type of the genus Cladorhynchus, and differs from Himantopus both in its See also:

style of plumage (the male having a broad See also:

bay See also:

PECTORAL

pectoral See also:

belt), in its shorter tarsi, and in having the toes (though, as in the stilt's feet, three in number on each See also:

FOOT

foot) webbed. Allied in many ways to the stilts, but differing in many undeniably generic characters, are the birds known as Avocets,' forming the genus Recurvirostra of Linnaeus. Their bill, which is perhaps the most slender to be seen in the whole class, curves upward towards the end, and has given the See also:

OLDEST

oldest known species two names which it formerly See also:

BORE

bore in England,—" cobbler's-See also:

AWL (0. Eng. ael; at one time spelt nawl by a confusion with the indefinite article before it)

awl," from its likeness to the See also:

TOOL (0. Eng. tdl, generally referred to a root seen in the Goth. taujan, to make, or in the English word " taw," to work or dress leather)

tool so called, and " scooper," because it resembled the See also:

SCOOP (from M. L. Ger. or M. Du. schope, cf. Du. schoep, a bailing vessel, Ger. schopfen, and, from M. Du. schoppe, Ger. Schuppe, shovel)

scoop with which mariners threw water on their sails. The legs, though long, are not extraordinarily so, and the feet, which are webbed, See also:

bear a small See also:

HIND

hind toe. This species (fig. 2), the R. avocetta of See also:

ORNITHOLOGY

ornithology, was of old See also:

time plentiful in England, though doubtless always restricted to certain localities.

Charleton in 1668 says that when a boy he had shot not a few on the See also:

Severn, and See also:

Plot mentions it so as to See also:

lead one to suppose that in his time (1686) it bred in See also:

STAFFORDSHIRE

Staffordshire, while F. See also:

WILLUGHBY, FRANCIS (1635—1672)

Willughby (1676) knew of it as being in See also:

winter on the eastern See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast, and T. See also:

PENNANT, THOMAS (1726-1798)

Pennant in 1769 found it in See also:

GREAT

great See also:

numbers opposite to Fossdyke See also:

WASH, THE

Wash in See also:

LINCOLNSHIRE

Lincolnshire, and described the birds as hovering over the sportsman's head like lapwings. In this See also:

DISTRICT

district they were called " Yelpers " from their cry;" but whether that name was 2 This species was made known to See also:

Ray by See also:

SLOANE, SIR HANS (1660-1753)

Sloane, who met with it in See also:

JAMAICA

Jamaica, where in his See also:

day it was called " long-legs." ' This word is from the Bolognese Avosetta, which is considered to be derived from the Latin avis—the termination expressing a diminutive of a graceful or delicate See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind, as donnetta from donna (See also:

PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

Professor Salvadori in epist.). Cf. " yarwhelp " (see G(2,vw1T) and " yaup " or " whaup " (see See also:

CURLEW (Fr. Courlis or Corlieu)

CURLEW). " See also:

BARKER, EDMUND HENRY (1788–1839)

Barker " and " See also:

CLINKER

clinker " seem to have been names used in See also:

Norfolk. elsewhere applied is uncertain. At the end of the last See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century they frequented See also:

Romney See also:

Marsh in See also:

Kent, and in the first See also:

QUARTER (through Fr. from Lat. quartarius, fourth part)

quarter of the See also:

PRESENT

present century they bred in various suitable spots in See also:

Suffolk and Norfolk—the last See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place known to have been inhabited by them being Salthouse, where the See also:

PEOPLE

people made puddings of their eggs, while the birds were killed for the See also:

SAKE

sake of their feathers, which were used in making artificial flies for fishing. The extirpation of this See also:

settlement took place between 1822 and 1825 (cf. See also:

Stevenson, Birds of Norfolk, ii. 240, 241).

The avocet's mode of nesting is much like that of the stilt, and the eggs are hardly to be distinguished from those of the latter but by their larger size, the bird being about as big as a See also:

LAPWING (O.Eng. hledpewince= " one who turns about in running or flight ")

lapwing (q.v.), white, with the exception of its crown, the back of the neck, the inner scapulars, some of the wing-coverts and the primaries, which are black, while the legs are of a See also:

FINE

fine See also:

LIGHT

light See also:

BLUE (common in different forms to most European languages)

blue. It seems to get its food by working its bill from See also:

side to side in shallow pools, and catching the small crustaceans or larvae of insects that may be See also:

SWIMMING (from " swim," A.S. swimman, the root being common in Teutonic languages)

swimming therein, but not, as has been stated, by sweeping the surface of the mud or See also:

sand—a See also:

PROCESS

process that would speedily destroy the delicate bill by See also:

FRICTION (from Lat. fricare, to rub)

friction. Two species of avocet, R. americana and R. andina, are found in the New See also:

WORLD

World; the former, which ranges so far to the northward as the See also:

Saskatchewan, is distinguished by its light See also:

CINNAMON

cinnamon-coloured head, neck and See also:

BREAST (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. the Ger. Brust, possibly connected with an O. Sax. brustian, to bud)

breast, and the latter, confined so far as known to the See also:

mountain lakes of See also:

CHILE, or CHILI (derived, it is said, from the Quichua chin , cold, or tchili, snow)

Chile, has no white in the upper parts except the head and neck. Australia produces a See also:

FOURTH

fourth species, R. novae-hollandiae or rubricollis, with a See also:

CHESTNUT (nux Castanea)

chestnut head and neck; but the See also:

EUROPEAN

European R. avocetta extends over nearly the whole of middle and southern Asia as well as Africa. (A.

End of Article: STILT

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