AMERICAN AVOCET — AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 129 



Family RECUR VTROSTRID^. 



Genus RECURVIROSTRA Linnaeus. 



RECURVrROSTRA AMERICANA Gm. 



91. American Avocet. (225) 



White; hack auel wings, with imich Ijhick ; head an<l neck, cinnamon-brown 

 in tlie adult, ashy in the young; bill, black, 3^ to gape; legs, blue; eyes, red. 

 Length, Ki-lS; wing, 7-8; tail, 3i ; tarsus, 85. 



Hab. — Temperate North America, from the Saskatchewan and (jreat Slave 

 Lake south, in winter, to (iuatemala and the West Indies. Raie in the Eastern 

 Province. 



Kggs, three or four, varia))le in size and marking, usually brownish-drab, 

 marked with spots of chocolate-brown. 



This is Jiuother delicate inland wader, rare on the sea coast, Vjut 

 abundant in the Mississippi Valley. Stragglers appear occasionally 

 at far distant points, and are at once identified b}^ their peculiar 

 markings and awl-shaped bill. I am aware of three individuals 

 having been taken at different times at Rond Eau, on the north 

 shore of Lake Erie, but these are all I have heard of in Ontario. 

 In Manitoija it is spoken of as being exceedingly rare, but it is very 

 abundant around the saline ponds and lakes in the North-West 

 (Macoun). 



According to Dr. Coues, " It is more abundant tlian elsewhere in 

 the interior of the United States along the Mississippi Valley, and 

 thence westward, in all suita]:)le localities, to the Rocky Mountains." 



Its preference for salt or brackish waters is indicated by its 

 abundance at Great Salt Lake, in Utah, and about the alkaline 

 waters of Dakota. 



Family SCOLOPACID^. Snipes, Sandpipers, etc. 



Genus PHILOHELA Gray. 



PHILOHELA MINOR (Gmel.). 



92. American Woodcock. (228) 



Above, variegated and harmoniously l)lended black, l)rown, gray and russet ; 

 below, pale warm brown of vai-ialile shade. Length, mah', 10-11 ; female, 11-12; 

 extent, lG-18; wing, 4A-5; bill, 2i-3; tarsus, 1:^; middle toe and claw, U; 

 weight, .'i-H oimces. 



Hab. — Eastern Province of North Ameiica, north to tlie British Provinces, 

 9 



