HIMANTOPUS. 



291 



HIMANTOPUS AMERICANUS. 



NOBTH-AMEBICAN AVOCET. 

 HiMANTOPUs secundariarum pogoniis externis et primariis interioribus pro raajore parte brunneis. Diagnosis. 



No local races of this species are known. 



Recurvirostra americana, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 693 (1788). 

 Recurvirostra occidentalis, Vigors, Zool. Journ. iv. p. 356 (1839). 

 Himantopus americanus {Gmel.), Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 75 (1885). 



Variations. 



Synonymy. 



Plates. — Wilson, Amer. Orn. pi. 63. fig. 2; Gray, Genera of Birds, iii. pi. 155. 

 Habits. — Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 341. 



Eggs. — Thienemann, Abbild. Vogeleiern, pi. Ixvi. fig. 3. Eggs in my collection are indis- 

 tinguishable from those of the Common Avocet. 



Literature. 



The North-American Avocet may be distinguished at all ages by the colour of its Specific 

 secondaries, which are white, with the greater fart of the outer web brown. In breeding- 

 plumage the head and neck are pale chestnut. 



2p2 



