120 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



! 



Family RECUR VIROSTRID-ffi, 



THE AVOCETS AND STILTS. 



Long-legged Snipe, which habitually wade, and can swim when 

 necessit}' arises. 



a. Bill decidedly upturned at the tip, hind toe present. 



AVOCET, p. 120 

 aa Bill very slightly or not at all upturned, hind toe absent. 



BLACK-NECKED STILT, p. 121 



225 Recurvirostra americana Gmelin. 

 Avocet. 



Adults in spring and summer. Length, 15.50-18.50. Wing, 8.50-9. Head, 

 neck and breast, pale cinnamon; scapulars and wings (except secondaries and 

 tips of greater coverts), dull black; rest of plumage, white. In winter the 

 head and breast are white, tinged with gray. 



Young in first autumn. Similar to winter adults, but with some buff or 

 rusty mottling above. 



Nest a depression in marshy ground ; eggs, three to four, pale olive or buff, 

 spotted with chocolate-brown, 1.90 x 1.30. 



A very rare straggler from the south. 



In 1812 Wilson wrote that he found these birds and the Stilts 

 "associated together on the salt marshes of New Jersey [Egg Harbor] 

 on the 20th of May. They were then breeding. Individuals of this 

 species were few in respect to the other." Audubon says : "In May, 

 1829, I saw three of these birds at Great Egg Harbor, but found no 

 nests, although those of the Long-legged Avocet of Wilson [i. e., the 

 Stilt] were common." From these statements it would seem that the 

 Avocet was never a common species in the State. 



In 1869 Turnbull describes it as "rather rare, appearing late in 

 April and leaving in October." Since then we have only four records 

 for the State : One shot by Mr. I. N. DeHaven, 1 last of August, 1886, 

 near Tuckerton ; one seen by Mr. W. E. D. Scott, 2 Long Beach, May 

 20th, 1877; one seen by Mr. I. W. Griscom, 3 middle of September, 



1 Stone, Birds of E. Pa. and N. J., p. 70. 



2 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1879, p. 224. 



8 Forest and Stream, January 23d, 1909. 



