BLACK-WINGED STILT.
Himantopus melanopterus (Meyerj,
BLACK-WINGED STILT.
HIMANTOPUS MELANOPTERUS, Meyer.
Himantopus melanopterus, Meyer, Temm. Man. d’Orn. ii.
p. 528 (1820); Macg. iv. p. 312; Hewitson, ii. p. 341.
Charadrius himantopus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 255.
Hypsibates himantopus, Naum. viii. p. 191, xiii. p. 244.
Himantopus candidus, Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 305 ; Dresser, vii.
p. 587.
Echasse blanche, French; Stelzenlaufer, Strandreiter,
German; Ciguefiuela, Spanish.
The Stilt is an irregular and uncommon summer
visitor to our islands, and has occurred in Scotland
and Ireland as well as in England; but, as far as I
am aware, there is no existing record of its having ever
been found nesting in any part of the United Kingdom.
In Southern Europe it is locally abundant in the
breeding-season, and occurs as an occasional straggler
to most parts of that continent.
The Stilt nests in wet marshes, very often building
actually on the surface of shallow pools amongst the
aquatic vegetation that covers them, but more frequently
on the mud of the open marsh; the nests, of
course, vary in solidity according to their situation, but
are generally formed of dry coarse grass and small