338 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFORNIA 



upper part of back, throat and breast, dull rusty, darker on top and sides of 

 head and hind neck, paler below and behind, gradually giving way to white on 

 back and under surface; bill black; often pale at base below; iris "bright 

 carmine" (Audubon, 1843, VI, p. 29); middle of back white, becoming very 

 pale gray on rump, upper tail coverts and tail; inner scapulars brownish black, 

 outer ones white, forming on back a dark V set in white; outer surface of 

 closed wing brownish black; primaries black; secondaries extensively white 

 at tips; tertials pale drab; margin and most of under lining of wing, 

 and axillars, white; hindmost under wing coverts, dusky; under surface of 

 primaries black; whole lower surface of body backwards from breast, includ- 

 ing sides, flanks, and lower tail coverts, white; hind toe small, feet extensively 

 webbed; legs and feet clear, pale blue, "edges of webs flesh-coloured" 

 (Audubon, 1843, VI, p. 29), drying blackish. Males: Total length 17.61-19.10 

 inches (447-486 mm.) (five specimens from California and Lower California) ; 

 folded wing 8.75-9.17 (222-233); bill along culmen 3.46-4.00 (88.0-101.8); 

 tarsus 3.79-4.00 (96.3-101.7) (ten specimens from California). Females: Total 

 length 16.75-17.90 (426-454) (ten specimens from California and Lower Cali- 

 fornia); folded wing 8.66-9.30 (220-236); bill along culmen 3.22-3.71 (81.6- 

 94.1); tarsus 3.27-3.92 (83.0-99.5) (ten specimens from California). Adults 

 and immatures, both sexes, in fall (?) and winter: As in summer, except that 

 rusty coloration is wholly wanting, being replaced on upper surface of head, 

 neck and back by pale gray, and below by dull white. The spring molt takes 

 place in March. Juvenile plumage: "Primaries slightly tipped with whitish; 

 scapulars and feathers of back tipped or transversely mottled with pale 

 fulvous or buff. Crown dull grayish; nape tinged with light rufous" (Baird, 

 Brewer and Kidgway, 1884, I, p. 341). Natal plumage: Top and side of head, 

 mixed black, white and dull rusty; side of neck, hind neck and upper part of 

 back similar but with more rusty; area above base of upper mandible, and 

 middle of chin, whitish; bill black; rest of upper surface dull blackish, with 

 much white-tipped down and some rusty color; lower back and outer surface 

 of closed wing grayish; under surface dull white; legs pale blue. 



Marks for field identification — Large size, slender build, long, slender, up- 

 curved black bill (fig. 60), rusty or white head, white, unstreaked under surface, and 

 long bluish legs (pi. 11). Differs from Black-necked Stilt in having white on 

 scapulars and in entire lack of black on head or neck at all seasons. 



Voice — A loud sharp "plee-eek, plee-eek." 



Nest — Either on bare ground or in grass near alkaline ponds; varies greatly 

 in construction, being sometimes a well-made platform of grasses as much 

 as two inches in height; again only a rim of grasses, though fairly well put 

 together, the eggs being deposited on the surface of the ground within the rim. 



Eggs — Usually 4, pear-shaped, measuring in inches, 1.82 to 2.07 by 1.34 to 

 1.40 (in millimeters, 46.2 to 52.6 by 34.1 to 35.5), and averaging 1.93 by 1.38 

 (48.9 by 34.9) (two sets, eight eggs, from California and Utah) ; ground-color 

 dull buff or clay; markings of dark brown or black and lavender or light gray. 



General distribution — North America, chiefly the western part. Breeds 

 from eastern Oregon, central Alberta, and southern Manitoba (rarely north 

 to Great Slave Lake), south to southern California, southern New Mexico, 

 northwestern Texas, northern Iowa and central Wisconsin; winters from 

 southern California and southern Texas south to southern Guatemala; of rare 

 or casual occurrence east of Mississippi River (and now only in migration), 

 but formerly bred there in small numbers (modified from A. O. U. Check-list, 

 1910, p. 108; Cooke, 1910, pp. 19-20). 



