The flamingo, for instance, is one of the
most long legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of proportion to
the himantopus; for a cock flamingo weighs, at an average, about
four pounds avoirdupois; and his legs and thighs measure usually
about twenty inches. But four pounds are fifteen times and a
fraction more than four ounces and one quarter; and if four ounces
and a quarter have eight inches of legs, four pounds must have one
hundred and twenty inches and a fraction of legs; viz., somewhat
more than ten feet; such a monstrous proportion as the world never
saw! If you should try the experiment in still larger birds the
disparity would still increase. It must be matter of great curiosity to
see the stilt plover move; to observe how it can wield such a length
of lever with such feeble muscles as the thighs seem to be
furnished with. At best one should expect it to be but a bad walker:
but what adds to the wonder is that it has no back toe. Now without
that steady prop support its steps it must be liable, in speculation,
to perpetual vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the true
centre of gravity.
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