AVOCETS AND STILTS 241 



of new feeding-grounds. On March 10, when sailing to Florida, I saw 

 Phalaropes in numbers, doubtless of both this and the preceding species, 

 off the coast of North Carolina. 



224. Steganopus tricolor Vieill. WILSON'S PHALAROPE. Ad. 9 in 

 summer. Top of the head and middle of the back pearl-gray, nape white; 

 a black streak passes through eye to side of neck, and, changing to rufous- 

 chestnut, continues down the sides of the back and on scapulars; neck and 

 upper breast washed with pale, brownish rufous; rest of underparts and 

 upper tail-coverts white. Ad. <? in summer. Upperparts fuscous-brown, 

 bordered with grayish brown; upper tail-coverts, nape, and a line over the 

 eye white or whitish; sides of the neck and breast washed with rufous; rest 

 of the underparts white. Ads. and juv. m in winter. Upperparts gray, 

 margined with white; upper tail-coverts white; wings fuscous, their coverts 

 margined with buffy; underparts white. Juv. "Top of head, back, and 

 scapulars dusky blackish, the feathers distinctly bordered with buff; wing- 

 cpyerts also bordered with pale buff or whitish; upper tail-coverts, super- 

 ciliary stripe, and lowerparts white, the neck tinged with buff" (Ridgw.). 

 cfL., 8'75; W., 4'75; Tar., 1'20; B., 1. 9 L., 9'50; W., 5'25; Tar., 1'30; 

 B., 1*30. 



Range. N. and S. A. Breeds from cen. Wash., cen. Alberta, and Lake 

 Winnipeg s. to cen. Calif., s. Colo., s. Kans., n. Iowa, and nw. Ind.; winters 

 from cen. Chile and cen. Argentina s. to Falkland Islands; casual in migra- 

 tion on Pacific coast from s. B. C. to L. Calif., and on Atlantic coast from 

 Maine to N. C. 



Long Island, three records, Aug., Sept. and Oct. N. Ohio, casual T. V. 

 SE. Minn., common S. R., May 12-Sept. 13. 



Nest, a shallow depression in soft earth lined with a thin layer of frag- 

 ments of grass. Eggs, 3-4, cream-buff or buffy white, heavily blotched with 

 deep chocolate, 1'28 x "94. (See Nelson, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, II, 1879, 

 38-43.) Date, Minor Co., S. D., May 25; s. Saskatchewan, June 15, downy 

 young. 



This beautiful bird is a common summer resident of our interior 

 prairie sloughs, and ranges westward as far as the San Joaquin valley 

 of California. It feeds about the shores and often swims gracefully 

 with a nodding motion of the head. Although the female does not 

 incubate, she appears to be keenly interested in the welfare of the nest, 

 and when I have flushed a sitting male, he has soon been joined by his 

 mate who seemed to share his anxiety. Pairs of birds which evidently 

 had young would utter a soft qua or quok and fly about me with a 

 slow, jerky, halting flight and a peculiar sinuous stretching of the neck. 

 Usually the female led. 



25. FAMILY RECURVIROSTRID^B. AVOCETS AND STILTS. 



The twelve species comprising this family are distributed through- 

 out the warmer parts of the world. They are generally found in flocks, 

 and may be called Wading Snipe. They feed in shallow water, wading 

 to their heels, and when necessary swim with ease. 



225. Recurvirostra americana Gmel. AMERICAN AVOCET. (Fig. 12.) 

 Bill slender, recurved. Ads. in summer. Head and neck cinnamon-rufous, 

 back and tail white, scapulars and primaries black; middle coverts, tips of 

 the greater ones, and part of secondaries white; belly white, bill turned 



