350 The Avocet 



birds. In every case they were probably nesting in the neighborhood, 

 for by their actions they plainly expressed their displeasure at our 

 approach. At first two or three would be seen, but their cries soon 

 brought others, perhaps their mates, who left their nests to come and 

 help expel the intruders. With shouts of distress they circled us, or flew 

 about in the air overhead, and occasionally would alight and go bumping 

 along the ground as though injured and undergoing the most frightful 

 suffering. Sometimes they would settle in the water, where their antics 

 of head-bobbing and wing-waving were most amus- 

 Behavior ing. Again they would submerge the body, and, with 



the head laid out on the surface, would propel them- 

 selves forward much as wounded wild geese will sometimes do. 



It. was not given to us to find their nests that day, nor the next, but 

 shortly afterward several were discovered by Mr. Finley in this neigh- 

 borhood. 



The nest of the Avocet is merely a slight depression in the marsh 

 lined with grass, and there the spotted and blotched eggs are laid, and 

 the young first see the light of day. In common with other waders, the 

 little Avocets have the power of running about and picking up food very 

 shortly after they are hatched. 



I have had the good fortune of observing these birds about many of 

 the lakes of the Plains, and in the mountain-valleys of the far West, and 

 everywhere they have displayed the same solicitude when one approaches 

 the neighborhood of their nests. 



It is rather remarkable that so little has heretofore been written 

 regarding the habits of the Avocet, and it is evident that few ornitholo- 

 gists have studied them carefully since the days of John James Audubon. 

 Here is a quotation from Audubon's "Birds of North America," 

 which not only gives some intimate details of the Avocet's life about the 

 nest, but well illustrates the painstaking care with which this great artist- 

 naturalist pursued his field-studies. His story deals 

 " u with the movements of a little company of Avocets 



that he found breeding in a marsh about two miles 

 from Yincennes, Indiana, in the early part of the last century. 



"On alighting, whether on the water or on the ground, the American 

 Avocet keeps its wings raised until it has fairly settled. If in the water, 

 it stands a few minutes balancing its head and neck, somewhat in the 

 manner of the Tell-tale God wit. After this it stalks about searching for 

 food, or runs after it, sometimes swimming for a yard or so while passing 

 from one shallow to another, or wading up to its body, with the wings 

 partially raised. Sometimes they would enter among the rushes and 

 disappear for several minutes. They kept apart, but crossed each other's 

 path in hundreds of ways, all perfectly silent, and without showing the 

 least symptom of enmity toward each other, although whenever a Sand- 

 piper came near, they would instantly give chase to it. 



"On several occasions, when I purposely sent forth a loud shrill 

 whistle without stirring, they would suddenly cease from their rambling, 



