146 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Family RECURVIROSTRID/E.— The Avocets and Stilts. 



(Page 143.) 

 Genera. 



rt'. Ilind too present ; anterior toes all webbed ; bill decidedly recurved toward tip. 



Recurvirostra. (Pago 14().) 



rt'. Ili'nd too absent; no wob between inner and niidillc toos, and that between 

 outer and middle toes occupying less than Lull' the space ; bill very slightly 

 or not at all recurved toward tip Himantopus. (Page 146.) 



Genus RECURVIROSTRA Linn^us. (Page 146, pi. XLIV., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



a}. Outer scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, also part of secondaries- and 

 greater wing-coverts, white. 



Wings (except secondaries and terminal half of greater coverts), inner 

 scapulars, and adjacent feathers of back, brownish black ; lower parts, 

 rump, outer scapulars, and middle of back, white ; tail ashy white or 

 pale ashj^ Summer adult : Head (except anteriorly), neck, and chest 

 light cinnamon. Winter plumage : Head, neck, and chest white, tinged, 

 more or less, with pale bluish graj*, especially on top of head and hind- 

 neck. Young : Similar to winter plumage, but quills slightly tipped 

 with whitish, scapulars, etc., tipped or transversely mottled with buft'y 

 or pale fulvous, and hind-neck tinged with light rufous. Length 15.50- 

 18.75, wing 8.50-9.00, culmcn 3.40-3.05, tarsus 3.70-3.80, middle toe 

 1.60-1.70. Fggs 3-4, 1.03 X 1-35, pale olive, olive-buff, or drab-buif 

 (rarely creamy buff), thickly spotted (sometimes sparsely lined also) 

 with dark brown or black. ITah. Temperate North America, north, 

 in the interior, to the Saskatchewan and Great Slave Lake ; south, in 

 ■winter, to Guatemala, Cuba, and Jamaica. 



225. R. americana GjiF.L. American Avocet. 



a'. No white on upper parts, except head, neck, and rump. Ilab. Andes of Chili. 



R. andina I'liii.ipri & L.vndii. Chilian Avocet.' 



Geni-s himantopus Prisson. (Pago 146, pi. XLIY., fig, 2.) 



Species. 



a'. White of forehead not extending over the crown; black of hind neck continuous 

 with that of the back. 



Adult male: Forehead, spot behind eye, lores, cheeks, entire lower parts 

 (including foro-noek, throat, and chin), rump, and upper tail-covcrts, 

 pure white (sometimes tinged with pinkish in breeding season) ; rest of 



> Heciirvirotlra andina PniLlPPl t Lahdbeck, Woigm. Archiv, 1803, 131. 1Iauti.no, Ibis, 1S74, 257, pi, 9. 



