344 PR.ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LBIICOLiE. 



On several occasions Mr. Salvin noticed that the birds of this species seen at Chia- 

 parn ^vere swimming, and were most industrious feeders, their bills being constantly 

 at Avork, and admirably adapted for picking the most minute object from the surface 



of the "water. 



Mr. Dresser often saw Avocets at the town-lagoon near Matamoras, generally 

 finding them in families of five or six, some of the young birds being only just able 

 to fiy. They were not shy, but came to a shallow part of the lagoon close to the 

 houses, and waded along, moving their heads from side to side with perfect regularity, 

 reminding one of a party of mowers, not going in an even line, but one being slightly 

 behind and to the side of the other. Towards August they had become much more 

 abundant. In .May and June, 1864, Mr. Dresser saw several pairs on Galveston 

 Island, and was told that they breed on Bolivar Point, and on the islands outside of 

 the Brazos, and St. Louis Pass. 



Mr. Aiken mentions the occurrence of this species in Colorado. Captain Bendire 

 found it an abundant summer resident in the lower valleys of Southeastern Oregon, but 

 not in the higher regions of the Blue Mountains anywhere above an altitude of 4,800 

 feet. It breeds on Malheur Lake and the swampy shores of Sylvia's Eiver. Mr. 

 Nelson speaks of it as very abundant on Salt Lake, where it frequented the shore by 

 hundreds. One which he had wounded tried to escape by diving and swimming short 

 distances under the water. Dr. Merrill mentions it as being common during the 

 winter in the Rio Grande Region, where a few remained to breed. 



Mr. Henshaw saw on Santa Cruz Island, California, several which had paired, and 

 were probably breeding. They lived on the beaches, picking up sea-slugs and small 

 crustaceans from the surface of the water. 



Eggs of this species (S. I. No. 13689) found by Mr. Ridgway in an alkaline deposit 

 at Soda Lake, near Carson Desert, June 28, 1868, measure 1.85 by 1.30 inches. Their 

 ground-color is a light rufous drab, over which are profusely distributed blotches of 

 irregular shape and size, the colors being a combination of sepia-brown and bistre. 

 The eggs are oboval in shape, with one end more pointed than the other. Another 

 set (S. I. No. 15444) from Carrington Island, in Great Salt Lake, June, 1869, measure 

 2.08 by 1.40 inches. Their ground-color is a dark drab, lightly tinged with olivaceous, 

 and spotted with dark blotches exclusively of bistre. 



Genus HIMANTOPUS, Brisson. 



Himantopiis, Buiss. Oni. V. 1760, .33 (type, Charadrius Mmantopus, Linn.). 



Char. Hind toe wanting ; onter and middle toes connected at the base by a short web ; the 

 inner toe completely separated from the middle. Bill subulate, deeper than broad, slightly up- 

 turned toward the end. Legs excessively lengthened, the bare part of the tibia about half as long 

 as the tarsus, which greatly exceeds the bill in length, the latter being nearly twice the length of 

 the middle toe. 



The Stilts have much the same range as the Avocets, but the species are more numerous, there 

 being at the present time about seven recognized by authorities. Like Eecurvirostra, the genus 

 Himantopus is represented in America by two very distinct species, the one belonging to North, 

 Central, and Northern South America ; the other peculiar to the more southern portions of the 

 Southern Continent. They differ as follows : — 



1. H. mexicanus. White of the forehead not extending over the crown. Black of the nape 

 continu(jus with that of the back. 



