146 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



FAMILY RECURVIROSTRID^E. THE AVOCETS AND STILTS. 



(Page 143.) 

 Genera. 



a 1 . Hind toe present ; anterior toes all webbed ; bill decidedly recurved toward tip. 



Recurvirostra. (Page 146.) 



a 2 . Hind toe absent; no web between inner and middle toes, and that between 

 outer and middle toes occupying less tban balf the space ; bill very slightly 

 or not at all recurved toward tip Himantopus. (Page 146.) 



GENUS RECURVIROSTRA LINNAEUS. (Page 146, pi. XLIY., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



a 1 . Outer scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, also part of secondaries and 

 greater wing-coverts, white. 



Wings (except secondaries and terminal half of greater coverts), inner 

 scapulars, and adjacent feathers of back, brownish black ; lower parts, 

 rump, outer scapulars, and middle of back, white ; tail ashy white or 

 pale ashy. Summer adult : Head (except anteriorly), neck, and chest 

 light cinnamon. Winter plumage : Head, neck, and chest white, tinged, 

 more or less, with pale bluish gray, especially on top of head and hind- 

 neck. Young : Similar to winter plumage, but quills slightly tipped 

 with whitish, scapulars, etc., tipped or transversely mottled with buffy 

 or pale fulvous, and hind-neck tinged with light rufous. Length 15.50- 

 18.75, wing 8.50-9.00, culmen 3.40-3.65, tarsus 3.70-3.80, middle toe 

 1.60-1.70. Eggs 3-4, 1.93 X 1-35, pale olive, olive-buff, or drab-buff 

 (rarely creamy buff), thickly spotted (sometimes sparsely lined also) 

 with dark brown or black. Hob. Temperate North America, north, 

 in the interior, to the Saskatchewan and Great Slave Lake ; south, in 

 winter, to Guatemala, Cuba, and Jamaica. 



225. R. americana GMEL. American Avocet. 



a 2 . No white on upper parts, except head, neck, and rump. Hob. Andes of Chili. 



R. andina PHILLPPI & LANDB. Chilian Avocet. 1 



GENUS HIMANTOPUS BRISSON. (Page 146, pi. XLIY., fig. 2.) 



Species. 



a 1 . "White of forehead not extending over the crown ; black of hind-neck continuous 

 with that of the back. 



Adult male : Forehead, spot behind eye, lores, cheeks, entire lower parts 

 (including fore-neck, throat, and chin), rump, and upper tail-coverts, 

 pure white (sometimes tinged with pinkish in breeding season) ; rest of 



1 Recurvirostra, andina PHILIPPI & LANDBECK, Weigm. Archiv, 1863, 131. HARTING, Ibis, 1874, 257, pi. 9. 



