AMERICAN AVOCET 41 



not so sharply upturned in life, as it is in some stuffed specimens 

 and in some drawings. Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1891) has explained 

 it very well, as follows : 



The use of the avoeet's recurved bill is clearly explained by the manner in 

 which the bird procures its food. In feeding they wade into the water and 

 drop the bill below the surface until the convexity of the maxilla probably 

 touches the bottom. In this position they move forward at a half run and with 

 every step the bill is swung from side to side sweeping through an arc of 

 about 50° in search of shells and other small aquatic animals. The mandibles 

 are slightly opened, and at times the birds pause to swallow their prey. It is 

 evident that birds with a straight or a downward curved bill could not adopt 

 this method of feeding. 



Audubon (1840) describes it, as follows: 



They search for food precisely in the manner of the roseate spoonbill, mov- 

 ing their heads to and fro sideways, while their bill is passing through the 

 soft mud ; and in many instances, when the water was deeper, they would 

 immerse their whole head and a portion of the neck, as the spoonbill and 

 red-breasted snipe are wont to do. When, on the contrary, they pursued 

 aquatic insects, such as swim on the surface, they ran after them, and 

 on getting up to them, suddenly seized them by thrusting the lower mandible 

 beneath them, while the other was raised a good way above the surface, much 

 in (he manner of the black shear water, which, however, performs this act on 

 wing. They were also expert at catching flying insects, after which they ran 

 with partially expanded wings. 



Doctor Wetmore (1925) found that, in 67 stomachs examined, ani- 

 mal food amounted to 65.1 per cent and vegetable food 34.9 per cent. 

 Among the animal food were found phyllopods, dragonfly nymphs, 

 back swimmers, water boatmen, various beetles and flies and their 

 larvae. The vegetable matter consisted largely of seeds of marsh or 

 aquatic plants. He says further : 



Flocks of the birds search for food scattered about in shallow water, and 

 do not hesitate to swim when necessary in crossing the deeper channels. Fre- 

 quently a dozen or more feed in company, walking slowly along, shoulder to 

 shoulder, as though in drill formation, at each forward step thrusting the 

 head under water and sweeping the recurved bill along the bottom with a 

 scythelike swing that must arouse consternation among water boatmen and 

 other aquatic denizens of the bays and ponds. At times the writer has observed 

 -is many as 300 of these handsome birds feeding thus in a single company, a 

 scene at once spirited and striking. As the birds feed much of the time by 

 immersing the head, anything that may touch the bill is gathered indiscrimi- 

 nately, as in feeding they depend upon the sense of touch. From their manner 

 of feeding, avocets are often scavengers, taking living or recently dead prey 

 without much choice. The large tapeworms found almost without fail in the 

 duodenum of the avocet are transmitted from one bird to another in this man- 

 ner. The cast-off terminal segments of the worms (bearing the eggs) are 

 picked up and swallowed by other avocets, a proceeding which the writer has 

 personally observed. Avocets also pick up matter floating in the water, on or 

 near the surface, or take insects and seeds from mud bars. The insects may be 

 those living in such localities or may be individuals that, have been washed up 

 in drift. 



