RECURVIROSTRID.E— THE AVOCETS AND STILTS. 75 



Hab. Temperate North America; north to the Saskatchewan and Great Slave Lake, 

 south (in winter) to Guatemala, Cuba, and Jamaica. Much rarer in the Eastern than in the 

 Western Province. 



Sp. Char. Wings (except secondaries, terminal half of greater coverts, and inner 

 secondaries), inner scapulars, and adjoining feathers of the back, brownish black; lower 

 parts, rump, outer scapulars, and middle of the back white ; tail ashy white or pale ashy. 

 Adult in summer: Head, neck, and breast, light cinnamon, becoming white around the bill 

 and fading gradually into the white of the body. Tertials brownish gray. Adult [and young) 

 in winter: Head, neck, and breast, white, more or less tinged with pale bluish gray, especi- 

 ally on crown and nape. Young: Primaries slightly tipped with whitish; scapulars and 

 feathers of back tipped or transversely mottled with pale fulvous or buff. Crown dull gray- 

 ish; nape tinged with light rufous. Total length, about 17.00 to 18.75 inches; extent, 30.00 

 to 36.00; wing, 8.50-9.00; culmen, 3.40-3.65; tarsus, 3.70-3.80; middle toe, 1.60-1.70. Bill deep 

 black; iris, deep brown; legs and feet ashy blue. 



The intensity of the cinnamon-color on the head and neck varies 

 with the individual; sometimes there is a dusky gray suffusion 

 around the eye, this being especially characteristic of younger 

 birds. 



Mr. Nelson says that in the northeastern portion of Illinois, 

 the Avocet ''generally occurs in small parties the last of April 

 and first of May, and during September and the first of Oc- 

 tober," and that it "frequents the borders of marshy pools." 



Genus HIMANTOPUS Brisson. 



Hvmantopus Bbiss. Orn. vi. 1760, 33. Type, Oharadrius himantopus Linn. 

 Char. Hind toe wanting; outer 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 upturned 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 Reewrwrostra, the genus 

 Himcmtopus is represented in America by two very distinct spe- 

 cies; one belonging to North, Central, and northern South 

 America, the other peculiar to the southern portion of the 

 southern continent. 



