138 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



the sunny side of some warm knoll in the marsh. As the breeding season 

 approaches they become more restless, flying from place to place, and 

 finally separate into small parties of two or three pairs. About the middle of 

 May their love-making commences, and is at first indicated by the increas- 

 ing solicitude they show for each other's welfare. The appearance of a 

 person in their vicinity at this time is a signal for all the birds near to 

 come circling about, though generally not within easy gunshot. By a 

 careful approach one may now and then find a small party swimming 

 about in some secluded pool. The charming grace of movement exhibited 

 at such times, combined with their tasteful elegance of attire, forms one of 

 the most pleasing sights one could witness, as they swim buoyantly from 

 side to side of the pool, gracefully nodding their heads; now pausing an 

 instant to arrange a feather, or to daintily gather some fragment of food, 

 and now floating idly about, wafted by the slight breeze which at intervals 

 ripples the surface of the water. * * * * The nesting-site is usually 

 in some thin tuft of grass on a level spot, but often in an open place con- 

 cealed by only a few straggling blades of small cariccs. The male scratches 

 a shallow depression in the soft earth, which is usually lined with a thin 

 layer of fragments of old grass blades, upon which the eggs, numbering from 

 three to four, are deposited about the last of May or first of June. Ow- 

 ing to the low situations in which the nests are placed, the first set of eggs 

 is often destroyed by a heavy fall of rain, causing the water to rise so as 

 to submerge the nest. In this case, the second set, numbering two or 

 three, is often deposited in a depression scratched in the ground, as at 

 first, but with no sign of any lining. Accidents of this kind cause the 

 second set of eggs to be sometimes deposited as late as the last of 

 June." Mr. Nelson says that the incubation is attended to by the male 

 alone. 



566. American Avocet — recurvirostra Americana. Varying from 

 a dark olive to buff, pretty uniformly and profusely spotted with chocolate- 

 brown of various shades ; the eggs vary in size, shape and markings like 

 the birds themselves; three or four in number; size from 1.80 to 2.10 in 

 length by 1.25 to 1.45 in breadth. The Avocet is irregularly distributed 

 over nearly all temperate North America, from ocean to ocean, and from 

 rather high latitudes in British America to Mexico. It is very abundant 

 in the West, especially in the alkaline regions, such as those of the 

 Yellowstone and Milk River regions, Utah, etc. It is rare in eastern 

 United States; casual in New England. In Ohio it is an extremely rare 

 visitor. In October of 1884 a freshly-killed specimen of this bird came 

 into my possession which was taken at the Licking County Reservoir. 



