Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent
Chapter One
Darwin's Bump of Reverence
Himantopus, legs rose pink. This bird is very numerous, in small; &
sometimes in tolerably large flocks. On the great swampy plains and
fens between the Sierra Ventana & B. Ayres. The genus has been
wrongfully accused of inelegance; the appearance of one of these
birds when walking about shallow water, which appears to be its
favourite resort, is far from awkward.
- Ornithological Notes, maldonado, May 1833
Darwin watched Black-winged Stilts on the wide, swampy fens of
Maldonado, near Buenas Ayres on the east coast of South America.
"Legs rose pink" are the first words set down in his notes on the
species. Though the bird's slender body and long neck are a vivid,
contrasty black and- white, it is the legs of the bird that demand a
watcher's first attentions, for they are improbably long - nearly
sixteen inches long, with just a few inches of bird perched on top.
The eyes are ringed in the same lipstick-rose pink that colors the
legs and bill, giving the bird a gentle, wide-eyed look. Though
Darwin was sure that ... read full excerpt from: Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin's Lost Notebooks ebook
