358 



The Plover-like Birds 



Mediterranean countries and northern Africa. It was formerly abundant in 

 the British Islands and a few may still nest in the Lake District, but it is now 

 mainly a migrant there. It frequents especially the bare mountain sides and 

 is one of the tamest of the Plovers. 



Avocets. The Avocets and Stilts form a very well marked group, often 

 separated as a distinct family (Recurvirostrida), and distinguished at once by 

 their large size, excessively long legs, long slender necks, and elongated, awl- 

 shaped bills, with the nostrils within the basal fourth. The hind toe may or 

 may not be present, while the front toes are always more or less webbed. Of 

 the three genera we may first notice the Avocets (Recurvirostra) , of which there 



are four species, one each in 

 North America, South Amer- 

 ica, Europe, and Australia and 

 New Zealand. In these the 

 hind toe, though rudimentary, 

 is present, the front toes are 

 all webbed, and the slender 

 bill decidedly curved upward 

 at the tip. The American 

 Avocet (R. americana) is six- 

 teen or seventeen inches long 

 and has the head and neck 

 cinnamon-rufous, the back, 

 tail, and abdomen white, and 

 the scapulars and primaries 

 black, while the other coverts 

 and secondaries are white ; in 



FIG. 119. American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana. 



winter the coloration is simi- 

 lar except that the head and 

 neck are white or pearly gray. This species is found in the temperate portions 

 of North America, being rare on the Atlantic coast, nesting from Illinois north- 

 ward to the Saskatchewan and thence westward, and wintering along the Gulf 

 coast and in Guatemala, Cuba, and Jamaica. It is a very graceful bird, fre- 

 quenting pools and shallow ponds, and is ordinarily not very wild "or suspicious. 

 Regarding its habits we quote from Dr. Coues, who found a colony in some 

 shallow, reedy ponds near the Arkansas River: "They were quite gentle and 

 familiar, and not at all disturbed by my approach, displaying a characteristic 

 of theirs during the breeding season, at least in regions where they are not often 

 molested. They walked leisurely up to the belly in the water, with graceful, 

 deliberate steps, each of which was accompanied with a swaying of the head 

 and neck, as usual with birds of similar form. When approached too closely, 

 they rose lightly from the water, uttering their peculiar cries, flapped leisurely 

 to a little distance, and again alighted to pursue their peaceful search for food, 

 forgetting, at least not heeding, their recent alarm. As they rose from the water, 

 their singular, long legs were suffered to dangle for a few moments, but were 



