296 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



it, white. Female: Browner above. 

 Immature: The brown of the upper 

 parts marked with whitish. 



Length 1 3.5-1 5 inches; extent 

 26-28; wings 8.5-9; tail 3; bill 2; 

 tarsus 4.15. 



The Stilt, Longshanks, or Law- 

 yer, is confined mostly to tropical, 

 and interior or western austral Amer- 

 ica, rarely occurring at the present 

 day north of Florida on the Atlantic 

 coast, although it formerly bred as 

 far north as New Jersey and possibly 

 on Long Island. The latest New York 

 specimens were taken 50 or 60 years 

 ago on Long Island, some of which 

 are now in the State Museum, the 

 American Museum, and the collec- 

 tion of the Long Island Historical 



Black-necked stilt. Himantopus mexicanus (Miiller). Q„_' i-, TJntVi tViic cTif^r'ip'C o-nA tVio 

 Long Island specimen. State Museum. About J nat. size OOClCXy. DOIU. lUli> SpeClCb dllU ILIG 



Avocet were of regular occurrence on our coast in 1840 according to 

 Colonel Pike and Giraud [see also Dutcher, Auk, 10:272]. 



Family SCOLOPACIDAE 



Snipe etc. 



The true Snipes have a long bill, in Tringae however scarcely longer 

 than the head, and its terminal ]Jortion sensitive; in Scolopacinae the legs 

 are of moderate length and the tibiae not so extensively bare as in Totaninae ; 

 the latter also have the terminal portion of the bill hard, and the outer 

 and middle toes joined by a web at the base, and the plumage mottled; 

 the former are more or less striped. 



Scolopax rusticola Linnaeus 



European Woodcock 



This species is larger than the American woodcock and much grayer in general color. The under 

 parts are finely barred or waved with dusky. Length 13.5 inches? wing 8; bill 3.25. 



This palearctic species has been taken in Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Lawrence 

 records a specimen from the vicinity of New York which was brought in by a gunner on a North 

 river ferryboat. It is only accidental in eastern North America but may yet be taken in New Yoric. 



