ZOOLOGY. 235 



FiGDRES.— Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, pi. 63, fig. 2. Aud. B. of Am. pi. 318; oct. ed. vi; pi. 353. Latham, Synopsis, V, pi. 92. 

 Cassin, B. of C I. and Texas, pi. 40. (Young.) 



Sr. Ch. — Bill rather long, depressed; wings long; legs long; tarsi compressed; tail short. Jldult: Head and neck pale 

 reddish brown, darker on the head and fading gradually into white. Back, wing coverts, and quills, black; scapulars, tips of 

 greater wing coverts, rump and tail, and entire under pnits, whi'e; the last frequently tinged with reddish. Bill brownish 

 black, legs bluish. Young: Very similar to the adult, but with the head and neck white, frequently tinged with ashy on the 

 head and neck behind. Total length, 13.12 to 18 inches; wing, 8^ to 9; e,\tent, 28 to 31; tail, 3J; bill to gape, 3J; tarsus, 3J 

 inches. 



Had. — All of temperate North America; Florida, (Mr. Wiirdemann.) 



During my i-esidence in the northwest I obtained but one specimen of the American avoset, 

 which was afterwards, unfortunately, lost on its way to Washington. This bird appeared to 

 be a straggler, and was shot near Fort Walla- Walla, where it excited a good deal of surprise 

 among some of the older settlers and traders, to all of whom it M-as new. In western Minne- 

 sota, on the contrary, it is very abundant, especially in the saline region along the tributary 

 streams of the Shayenne river and among the salt lakes and pools of the Grande Coteau. 

 There, where I had a good opportunity of studying their habits, I found that they appeared 

 equally fond of the margins of running brooks and the edges of stagnant pools; partly resembling 

 ducks in swimming well upon the surf;ice of the water, and partly the Totani in running along 

 the shore and in wading into the water in search of food. They were very unsophisticated, 

 allowing a near approach, and were but little disturbed by the report of a gun. When alarmed 

 at all, they manifested it much as curlews and willets do, by circling around the intruder, flying 

 backwards and forwards, all the while vociferating loudly. At such times, like the birds men- 

 tioned, they can be "tolled" towards the shooter by whistling in imitation of their cry. I 

 have seen a specimen of the avoset in the San Francisco Academy's museum, which had been 

 obtained in California. It is not a common bird in Oregon, the one received being the only 

 specimen I ever heard of in the Territory. In the Salt Lake region they are not uncommon, 

 (vide Stansbury's Report,) and this, added to the fact of their great abundance among the salt 

 lakes of western Minnesota, (the present Territory of Dacotah,) seems .to indicate a decided 

 preference for such food as is found only in salt and brackish water. My Oregon specimen was 

 much darker than any obtained in Minnesota, a reddish cinnamon tinge being very strongly 

 marked upon the neck. Although I shot many individuals in western Minnesota, I never saw 

 one among them so darkly tinged as the Oregon specimen. 



Nuttall says, in a note: "A second species, with a ivhite instead of a rufous neck, head, and 

 breast, and very nearly allied, if not identic, with the European or Oriental avoset, was shot 

 uear to the Great Northern Bend of the Missouri, and is now, I believe, in the extensive 

 museum of the Right Honorable Lord Stanlej', at Knowsley Hall." — Nuttall's Manual, 1st ed. 

 Water Birds, p. 77. 



The Great Bend of the Misiouri, it should be remembered, is very near to the saline region 

 of Dacotah. Probably, however, this bird was simply a specimen of the present species in 

 immature plumage, unless we differ from Mr. Cassin, and admit the existence of i?. occidentalis 

 as a distinct species. — S. 



Common on the Platte river, Nebraska, where I obtained, in August, two specimens, having 

 characters intermediate between li. americana and R. occidentalis. Never seen by me on the 

 west coast. — C. 



