256 Mr. J. E. Harting on rare 



Between the date of Mr. Vigors's description above quoted 

 (1829) and the publication of Mr. Gassings excellent 'Illus- 

 trations of the Birds of California, &c/ in 1856, in which the 

 bird in question is figured (pi. 40), no observations seem to 

 have been recorded to impugn the validity of the so-called 

 species, Mr. Cassin remarking that, since the date first men- 

 tioned, it had been " again noticed only by Col. McCall and 

 Dr. Heermann, both of whom, however, represent it as being 

 by no means a rare bird.^^ Dr. Heermann found it in various 

 parts of California, and procured numerous specimens, which 

 are now in the National Museum, Washington, and in the 

 Museum of the Philadelphia Academy. He observed it re- 

 sorting to shallow pools, in which it waded breast deep, usually 

 finding on the soft muddy bottom a plentiful feast of insects 

 and snails.^^ " Although partially web-footed," he adds, " it 

 does not swim, so far as I have noticed, unless wounded, when 

 it takes immediately to the deep water, swimming with great 

 celerity, soon getting beyond range if not at once disabled by 

 a second shot." " I have noticed this bird in abundance," 

 he continues, " on the borders of the reedy swamps which 

 cover a large portion of the lower part of the Sacramento 

 valley." 



The observations of Col. McCall upon this species, as pub- 

 lished by Mr. Cassin in the work to which I have referred, 

 are particularly interesting; and, indeed, without reference 

 to them the present notice would scarcely be complete. He 

 says : — " At the village of San Elizario, 22 miles south of 

 El Paso, on the 16th October, 1851, 1 found small flocks of the 

 Western Avocet feeding along the banks of the Bio Grande, 

 and frequenting the sloughs and pools in its vicinity, whilst 

 moving to the south in the course of their regular autumnal 

 migration. They were tame and unsuspicious, and evidently 

 ignorant of the destructive character of the gun ; for its report 

 seemed to create little alarm, even when the discharge carried 

 death into their ranks. To illustrate this I need only mention 

 the fact that the first flock which came immediately under my 

 observation alighted within twenty yards of the piazza where 

 I was sitting, on the morning after my arrival. They waded 



