O84 THE AMERICAN AVOCET. 
the return in September, but I have seen a few, possibly non-breeding birds, as 
early as July 15th; while by August Ist they are not uncommon along the 
western coast. Their haste is not unseemly; but they do not let the kelp grow 
beneath their feet, for they are due to winter in far Patagonia. 
No. 279. 
AMERICAN AVOCET. 
VA. ©. U. No, 225. Recurvirostra americana Gmel. 
Description.—</du/t in swmmer: Head and neck all around and breast light 
cinnamon rufous; eyering white; region about base of bill whitish; wing-quills 
and coverts (except inner secondaries and tips of greater coverts) deep brownish 
black; back, inner scapulars, and inner quills, lighter brownish black; remaining 
plumage, including outer scapulars, rump, tail, etc., white ;— tail tinged with ashy ; 
bill long, slightly recurved toward tip, black; legs dull blue. Adult in winter: 
Similar but without cinnamon-rufous,—white instead; tinged with pale bluish 
ash, especially on the top of head and hind-neck. /mmature: Like winter adult, 
but hind neck touched with rufous; scapulars, ete., buffy-tipped, or mottled ; wing- 
quills tipped with whitish. Length 16.00-19.00 (406.4-482.6) ; wing 8.82 (224); 
tail 3.90 (99.1); bill 3.72 (94.5); tarsus 3.66 (93). 
Recognition Marks.—Crow size; long legs; black and white and cinnamon- 
rufous in masses; long, slightly or strongly upturned bill. 
Nesting.— Nest: a slight platform of weathered reeds or plant-stems on 
damp ground in or near a swamp. Eggs: 3-5, usually 4, pale olive or olive-buff, 
heavily and rather uniformly spotted with chocolate-brown and black. Av. size, 
1.95 X 1.35 (49.5 X 34.3). Season: May 10-20; one brood. 
General Range.—Temperate North America north to the Saskatchewan and 
Great Slave Lake; in winter south to Guatemala and the West Indies. Rare in 
the eastern United States. 
Range in Washington.—Summer resident in lake region of eastern Wash- 
ington; elsewhere rare or casual during migrations. 
Authorities.—Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., Vol. NIL, 1866, 
D. 2045, ak 
Specimens.— |". C. 
NATURE. never made anything altogether awkward. Even stilts and 
chop-sticks are graceful when fashioned in the great workshop. The chop- 
sticks, in this case, are delicately curved and skillfully handled ; while the stilts 
support their owner most jauntily at a height of seven or eight inches above 
the ground. These unique implements belong to a soft-plumaged, dove-eyed 
creature, which the pioneers knew well but which is now almost extinct 
within our borders, the American Avocet, 
