76 HIMANTOPUS NIGRICOLLIS. 



observer of nature, the true relationship of these 

 remarkable birds. 



Strongly impressed with these facts, from an intimate 

 acquaintance with the living subjects, in their native 

 wilds, I have presumed to remove the present species 

 to the true and proper place assigned it by nature, 

 and shall now proceed to detail some particulars of its 

 history. 



This species arrives on the sea coast of New Jersey 

 about the 25th of April, in small detached flocks, of 

 twenty or thirty together. These sometimes again 

 subdivide into lesser parties ; but it rarely happens that 

 a pair is found solitary, as, during the breeding season, 

 they usually associate in small companies. On their 

 first arrival, and, indeed, during the whole of their 

 residence, they inhabit those particular parts of the 

 salt marshes pretty high up towards the land, that 

 are broken into numerous shallow pools, but are not 

 usually overflowed by the tides during the summer. 

 These pools or ponds are generally so shallow, that, 

 with their long legs, the avosets can easily wade them 

 in every direction ; and as they abound with minute 

 shell-fish, and multitudes of aquatic insects and their 

 larva*, besides the eggs and spawn of others deposited 

 in the soft mud below, these birds find here an alum- 

 dan t supply of food, and are almost continually seen 

 wading about in such places, often up to the breast in 

 water. 



In the vicinity of these bald places, as they are called 

 fifty yards off", among the thick tufts of grass, one of 

 these small associations, consisting perhaps of six or 

 eight pair, takes up its residence during the breeding 

 season. About the first week in May, they begin to 

 construct their nests, which are at first slightly formed 

 of a small quantity of old grass scarcely sufficient to 

 keep the eggs from the wet marsh. As they lay and 

 sit, however, either dreading the rise of the tides, or 

 for some other purpose, the nest is increased in height, 

 with dry twi^N of a shrub very common in the marshes, 

 roots of the salt grass, sea-weed, and various other 



