BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 1 65 



This western bird is the rarest of the Phalaropes on our coast. I have 

 only one record: a female taken in full spring plumage on May 20th, 1874, at 

 Nahant, by Mr. G. O. Welch. It was "at the edge of a small brackish pool, 

 every now and then springing up into the air, and .... catching small dipterous 

 insects." 1 The specimen is now in the collection of the Boston Society of Nat- 

 ural History, and is properly labeled a female, as is shown by plumage and 

 measurements, although the record just quoted speaks of it as a male, an error 

 probably due to the fact that the female Phalaropes are larger and brighter col- 

 ored than the males. 



93 [225] Recurvirostra americana Gmel. 



American Avocet. 



Accidental visitor from the west. 



Three of these birds were shot near Eagle Hill by Mr. A. B. Clark, on 

 September 13th, 1896. 2 One of these is in the collection of the Peabody Acad- 

 emy, another is also at Salem, and the third is in the collection of Mr. A. B. 

 Clark, at Ipswich. Two were reported as being shot " years ago in Lynn 

 marsh." 3 



There is only one other record for the State : a bird taken in Natick, on 

 October 19th, 1880. 4 



94 [226] Himantopus mexicanus (Mull.). 

 Black-necked Stilt. 



Accidental visitor from the south. 



The only authentic specimen of this bird from Essex County is one in the 

 mounted collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, labeled 

 Lynn, and collected by N. Vickary. No date can be found. Mr. Maynard 5 says, 

 in the Naturalist's Guide, and this statement is quoted by J. A. Allen 6 and 



■S. F. Baird. T. M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway : Water Birds, vol. 1, p. 338, 1884. 



2 F. H. Kennard : Auk, vol. 14, p. 212, 1897. 



3 Fletcher Osgood: Shooting and Fishing, vol. 9, p. 12, October 3, 1890. 

 * H. A. Purdie: Bull. Nuttall Om. Club, vol. 6, p. 123, 1881. 



5 C. J. Maynard: The Naturalist's Guide, p. 143, 1870. 

 6 J. A. Allen: Amer. Nat., vol. 3, p. 638, 1870. 



