40 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Young. — The period of incubation of the American bird has appar- 

 ently not been determined, but that of the European bird is said 

 to be 28 days. I have no data as to how the sexes incubate. Young 

 avocets are very precocial and leave the nest soon after hatching. 

 They are expert at hiding, even on the open flats and beaches; and 

 they take to the water at an early age, where they can swim and dive 

 like young ducks. I have seen a brood of four young, that could 

 not have been hatched more than a few hours, swimming out in a 

 lake, as if very much at ease. They soon learn to tip up in shallow 

 water and probe on the bottom, like their parents, for their insect 

 food. 



Plumages. — The downy young avocet is well colored for conceal- 

 ment on an open beach or alkaline flat. The colors of the upper parts 

 are " cinnamon buff," " cream buff," and buffy grays, lightest on 

 the crown and darkest on the rump; there is a distinct but narrow 

 loral stripe of black; the crown is indistinctly spotted with dusky. 

 Two parallel stripes of brownish black distinctly mark the scapulars 

 and two more the sides of the rump; the wings, back, rump, and 

 thighs are less distinctly spotted or peppered with gray and dusky. 

 The under parts are buffy white, nearly pure white on the throat and 

 belly. 



In fresh juvenal plumage the crown is "light drab " with "pinkish 

 buff " tips ; the sides and back of the neck are deep, rich " cinnamon," 

 deeper and richer than in the adult, shading off, on the upper back, 

 throat, and upper breast, to a suffusion of "pinkish buff"; the chin 

 and belly are white; the color pattern of the upper parts is similar 

 to that of the adult, except that the dark feathers of the back, 

 scapulars, and tertials are tipped with "pinkish buff"; and the 

 greater and median wing coverts are narrowly so tipped. 



This plumage is worn through the summer and fall without much 

 change except by extensive fading and some wear. The cinnamon 

 has nearly disappeared in September birds and all the buff edgings 

 have faded or worn away. A body molt takes place in late winter 

 or early spring which produces a first nuptial plumage much like 

 the adult. Young birds can, however, be recognized by the worn 

 primaries and by some of the juvenal scapulars and wing coverts. 

 The first postnuptial molt, the following summer, is complete and 

 produces the adult winter plumage. 



Adults have a complete postnuptial molt, beginning in August, and 

 a partial prenuptial molt, beginning in January, which involves 

 the body plumage and some of the scapulars and wing coverts. 

 The " cinnamon " colors of the head and neck are characteristic of 

 the nuptial plumage and are replaced by pale gray in winter adults. 



Food. — The feeding habits of the avocet are rather peculiar, as 

 might be expected of a bird with such a peculiar bill. The bill is 



