KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 



271 



Family RECURVIROSTRID.E. Avocets and Stilts. 



Genus RECURVIROSTRA Linn. 



Recurvirostra americana. 



RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA Gmel. 

 American Avocet. 



Adult in siwwier : Bill very slender and curved upwards; feet partly webbed; general plu- 

 mage white, becoming cinnamon brown on the head and neck, but remaining whitish at the 

 base of the bill ; primaries black ; most of the secondaries white, forming a broad white patch 

 on the wing ; tail ashy gray ; legs bluish ; bill black. 



Adult in winter : Head and most of the neck ashy gray ; tail ashy gray ; rest as in summer 

 plumage. 



Length, 18 to 20 ; Wing, 7.50 to 9 ; Tail, 3.50 ; Bill, 3.25 to 3.75 ; Tarsus, 3.60. 



This is a western species which ranges from the Great Slave Lake 

 southward to Central America and the West Indies ; is not common on the 

 Atlantic coast north of Florida. Stragglers have been recorded as far north 

 as the Bay of Fundy, but it is a very rare bird in New England. 



The eggs are from three to four in number, pale grayish olive spotted 

 with very dark brown. 



