OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. IO9 



the Mississippi valley ; another peculiarity of the species is 

 that the female is the largest and most gaily attired, and from 

 choice or necessity the eggs are incubated by the male. In 

 some other respects their domestic relations are not m accord- 

 ance with the recognized rules of propriety, but as it is not 

 always safe for outsiders to interfere in such matters we will 

 leave that part of the history without further comment. 



Being a bird of the prairie ponds it is but a straggler in 

 Ontario. The only record I have of its occurrence is the 

 notice in the list of the Birds of Western Ontario, of one having 

 been taken at Mitchell's Bay in 1882. It was observed, by 

 Prof. Macoun in the Northwest breeding in the marshes east of 

 Moose Mountain. 



Family RECURVIROSTRID^. 

 Genus RECURVIROSTRA Linn^us. 



84. RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA Gm. 225. 



American Avocet. 



White ; back and wings with much black ; head and neck cinnamon- 

 brown in the aduU, ashy in the young , bill black, 3! to gape ; legs blue ; eyes 

 red. Length, 16-18 ; wing, 7-8 ; tail, 3^ ; tarsus, 3J. 



Hab. Temperate North America, from the Saskatchewan and Great 

 Slave Lake south, in winter, to Guatemala and the Wesi Indies. Rare in the 

 Eastern Province. 



Eggs variable in size and markings, usually brownish-drab, marked 

 with spots of chocolate-brown. 



This is another delicate inland Wader, rare on the sea coast, 

 but abundant in the Mississippi valley. Stragglers appear 

 occasionally at far distant points, and are at once identified by 

 their peculiar markings and awl-shaped bill. I am aware of 

 three individuals having been taken at different times at Rond 

 Eau, on the north shore of Lake Erie, but these are all I have 

 heard of in Ontario. Prof. Macoun found it abundant on the 

 brackish ponds and marshes of the Northwest. 



