THE AMERICAN AVOCET. 685 
The waters of a certain lake in eastern Washington, being relieved in 
1904 by a new outlet, fell eight feet in a few days, leaving a shallow cove with 
its ancient bottom of ooze exposed here and there in the form of low mud 
reefs. There are mazes of cat-tails and bulrushes on one side and low alkaline 
slopes, acres in extent, upon the other. These conditions, it seems, exactly 
meet the requirements of these strange birds, and here we found them to 
the number of a score in May, 1906. 
Of course the Avocets were not alone 
upon this favored spot. Yellow-headed 
Blackbirds gurgled and screeched in the 
reeds, and Marsh Wrens sputtered and 
chuckled over their quaint basketry, 
while mud-hens and ducks of a dozen 
species, but chiefly Redheads and Rud- 
dies, paddled in the channels or brooded 
in the teeming brakes. Once during our 
stay a regatta of Whistling Swans con- 
descended at early dawn, but they were 
soon off, upon what high mission we 
could only guess. There was, indeed, a 
constantly shifting panorama of life, but 
the only creatures which cared to dispute 
with the Avocets the possession of the 
tiny mud islands were the turtles and a 
lazy band of lumbering White Pelicans 
One S-shaped reef, in particular, seemed 
to be the favorite lounging place of the 
Pelicans, and twenty-five of their com- 
fortable fat bodies appeared to about 
exhaust the accommodations; vet a pair 
of Avocets managed to live thru the 
daily inundation and to maintain a nest 
with four eggs. Forster Terns, also, oc- 
casionally bent an inquiring eye upon the Photo by the Author. 
reefs in passing, but we knew they would A-WING 
not raise proprietary questions till June. 
The Avocets are not rigidly gregarious; they associate freely, however, 
upon the nesting ground, and are to be seen in small scattered groups as often 
as singly. Since the tones of the surroundings are chiefly wrought out in 
gray-greens, grass-greens, and pale blues, the birds have no recourse to the 
arts of protective coloration, but appear boldly in a garb of black and white, 
softened on head and neck by cinnamon brown, and this habit serves to keep 
