SHORE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 35 



FAMILY RECURVIROSTRID^. AVOCETS AND STILTS. 

 GENUS RECURVIROSTRA LINN. 



This family consists of two or three genera, comprising ten or eleven 

 species. While they usually obtain their food wading about in shallow water, 

 they are web-footed and swiui easily and gracefully. 



RECURVIROSTRA AflERICANA Gmel. 

 American Avocet. 



Adult in summer : Bill, very slender and curved upwards ; ieet, partly webbed ; general 

 plumage, 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 south- 

 ward to Central America and the West Indies. It occurs commonly in Texas 



