THE AMERICAN AVOSET. 427 



" In describing the Long-legged Avoset, the similarity between 

 that and the present was taken notice of. This resemblance 

 extends to every thing but their color. I found both these birds 

 associated together on the salt marshes of New Jersey, on the 20th 

 of May. They were then breeding. Individuals of the present 

 species were few in respect to the other. They flew around the 

 shallow jDOols exactly in the manner of the Long-legs ; uttering 

 the like sharjj note of click, click, click ; alighting on the marsh or 

 in the water indiscriminately; fluttering their loose wings, and shak- 

 ing their half-bent legs, as if ready to tumble over ; keeping up a 

 continual yelping note. They were, however, rather more shy, 

 and kept at a greater distance. One which I wounded attempted 

 repeatedly to dive ; but the water was too shallow to permit him to 

 do this with facility. The nest was built among the thick tufts of 

 grass, at a small distance from one of these pools. It was com- 

 posed of small twigs of a seaside shrub, dry grass, seaweed, &c., 

 raised to the height of several inches. The eggs were four, of a 

 dull-olive color, marked with large, irregular blotches of black, and 

 with others of a fainter tint. 



Audubon, who found it breeding in the neighborhood of 

 Vincennes, in the State of Indiana, describes the nest and 

 eggs as follows : — 



"The nests were placed among the tallest grasses, and were 

 entirely composed of the same materials, but di'ied, and apparently 

 of a former year's growth. There was not a twig of any kind 

 about them. The inner nest was about five inches in diameter, and 

 lined with fine j^rairie grass, different from that found on the islets 

 of the pond, and about two inches in depth, over a bed having a 

 thickness of an inch and a half. The islets did not seem to be 

 liable to inundation ; and none of the nests exhibited any appearance 

 of having been increased in elevation since the commencement of 

 incubation, as was the case with those described by Wilson. Like 

 those of most Waders, the eggs were four in number, and placed 

 with the small ends together. They measured two inches in length, 

 one inch and three-eighths in their greatest breadth, and were 

 exactly, as Wilson tells us, ' of a dull-olive color,' &c. To this I 

 have to add that they are pear-shaped and smooth." 



