AVOCET. 461 



and tips of the tail feathers ■white; bill black ; feet orange ; length, 8-9 inches ; 'wing, 

 5J-6; tail, 21; bill, i, almost reonrved; tarsus, 1 ; tibise bare but a little way. 



Habitat, sea coasts of nearly all countries. Less frequent in the interior. 



Not commoa migrant on the shores of Lake Erie ; rare in other portions 

 of the State. 



The Turnstone, of which Audubon in 1838, said, "never in the in- 

 terior," was the same year, stated to visit the shores of Lake Erie by Dr. 

 Kirtland. It has been occasionally taken in the vicinity of Cleveland, by 

 Mr. Winslow and others. Judge Potter, of Toledo, informs me that a 

 considerable flock appeared, several year since, in the vicinity of that 

 city, several being secured by a sportsman, most of which were pre- 

 served by him. Mr. Langdon gives it in his list, it having been identi- 

 fied by Dr. Haymond, in Indiana, near Cincinnati. I have never seen 

 it alive, or from this vicinity. 



The Turnstone is not known to breed within the limits of the United 

 States, at least in the interior. Mr. Sinnett, observed them on the coast 

 of Texas in the breeding season, and believes them t6 breed there. The 

 eggs are despribed as of an olive-green ground-color, with brown spots. 



FAMILY RECURVIROSTRIDiE. STILTS AND 



AVOCETS. 



Legs extremely long ; the tarsus equalling or exceeding the tail, and feet either four- 

 toed and palmate (Recurvirostra) or three-toed and semipalmate {Himaniopus) ; with 

 the bill much longer than than the head, very slender, acute, and curved upward. 



Genus EECUEVIEOSTRA. Linnajus, 



Toes 4, full webbed ; bill decidedly reonrved, flattened, tapering to a very sharp 

 point ; body depressed, plumage underneath thickened as in water birds. 



ReCURVIEOSTBA AMERICANA Gm. 



-A-vocct. 

 Beairvirostra americana, Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1837, 166, 185. — Wheaton, Ohio 

 Agrio. Eep. for 1860, 368, 377 ; Eeprint, 1861, 10, 19 ; Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric, 

 Eep. for 1874, 572; Eeprint, 1875, 12.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 14; Re- 

 vised List, Jouru. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 182 ; Eeprint, 16. 



Seeurvirosira amerieana, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 693. 



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

 adult, ashy in the young ; bill black, 34 to gape ; legs blue ; eyes red. Length, 16-18 ; 

 wing, 7-8 ; tail, 3^ ; tarsus, 3^. 



"The young Avocet has the head and neck white, with an ashy or plumbeous shade, 

 instead of chestnut or cinnamon-red. In this condition it constitutes the B. occidentalia 

 of authors. Of the adult, the bill is black ; the iris, bright red ; the legs and feet clear. 



