138 RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA. 



frequents the shallow pools in tho salt margin-* ; wading 

 about, often to the belly, in search of food; viz. marine 

 worms, snails, and various insects that abound among 

 the soft muddy bottoms of the pools. 



The male of this species is eighteen inches and a half 

 long, and two feet and a half in extent; the bill is 

 black, four inches in length, flat above, the general 

 curvature upwards, except at the extremity, where it 

 bends slightly down, ending in an extremely fine point; 

 irides, reddish hazel ; whole head, neck, and breast, a 

 light sorrel colour; round the eye, and on the chin, 

 nearly white ; upper part of the back and wings, black ; 

 scapulars, and almost the whole back, white, though 

 generally concealed by the black of the upper parts ; 

 belly, vent, and thighs, pure white ; tail, equal at the 

 end, white, very slightly tinged with cinereous ; tertials, 

 dusky brown ; greater coverts, tipt with white ; secon- 

 daries, white on their outer edges, and whole inner 

 vanes ; rest of the wing, deep black ; naked part of the 

 thighs, two and a half inches ; legs, four inches, both 

 of a very pale light blue, exactly formed, thinned, and 

 netted, like those of the long legs ; feet, half webbed ; 

 the outer membrane somewhat the broadest ; there is 

 a very slight hind toe, which, claw and all, does not 

 exceed a quarter of an inch in length. In these two 

 latter circumstances alone it differs from the long legs, 

 but is in every other strikingly alike. 



The female was two inches shorter, and three less in 

 extent ; the head and neck a much paler rufous, fading 

 almost to white on the breast, and separated from the 

 black of the back by a broader band of white ; the bill 

 was three inches and a half long ; the leg half an inch 

 shorter; in every other respect marked as the male. 

 She contained a great number of eggs, some of them 

 nearly ready for exclusion. The stomach was filled 

 with small nails, periwinkle shell fish, some kind of 

 mossy vegetable food, and a number of aquatic inserts. 

 The intestines were infested with tape worms, and a 

 number of smaller hot-like worms, some of which 

 wallowed in the cavity of the abdomen. 



