118 BIRDS 



webbed. The bill is so soft and pliable that one maj' wind 

 it several times about the finger. While wading rapidly, 

 and with bill touching bottom, the bird swings this bill from 

 side to side as a mower a scythe, thus enabling the bird to 

 feed in muddy water. These birds grow less common from 

 the Mississippi to the Atlantic. Their favorite haunts are 

 small inland lakes in the prairie districts from Colorado and 

 Nebraska northward into Canada, breeding in numbers 

 about the alkali waters of the Salt Lake region. 



By some observers their call is described as the "bark" 

 of the avocet. They wade into the water up to their 

 breasts, and, if progress on foot is difficult, they swim 

 buoyantly about after the manner of our phalaropes. 



The plumage has a beautiful pinkish cast about the 

 head, neck, and breast. Individual birds differ considerably 

 in plumage and size of bill. The wings show less develop- 

 ment than those of most waders. 



Probably no other wader is more closely feathered 

 underneath than this species. The covering resembles that 

 of our gulls, which explains the bird's ability to alight in 

 deep water and swim about without wetting the flesh. 



Four huffy brown, black-spotted eggs are deposited in a 

 little depression close to the Avater's edge. The birds are 

 not close sitters, but manifest an uneasiness at the approach 

 of man. 



THE BLACK-NECKED STILT* 



Stilt would be a peculiarly appropriate name for this 

 bird, wdth its excessively long legs, were it less graceful and 

 dignified in its walk, moving on land with easy and meas- 



