KEY TO 'I'lII', \\.\'I'i:u lilKDS OF l-I.ORIDA. 



271 



Family RECUR\'1R0STRID.E. Avocets and Stti/fs. 



Genus RECURVIROSTRA Eixn. 



Recurvirostva aniericana. 



RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA Gmcl. 

 American Avocet. 



Adult in summer : 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. 



Adidt in zuintcr : 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 rani^es from the Great Shi\-e 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 Fnndy, but it is a very rare bird in New England. 



The ef'-t'-s are from three to foiu" in niunber, pale gravish olive spotted 

 with very dark brown. 



