REOUEVIROSTRID^ , AVOCETS, STILTS. — GEN. 196, 197. 



247 



"^ Var. MELANOCEPHALUS. Black-headed Turnstone. Without any of the chestnut 

 coloration of the last, the parts that are pied in interpres being blackish ; the white 

 parts, however, as before. Apparently a permanent melanism. Pacific Coast. 

 Cass, in Ed., 702. 



Family RECURVIROSTRIDJE. Avocets. Stilts. 



Another small family, characterized by the extreme length of the slender legs, 

 and the extreme slenderness of the long acute bill, which is either straight or 

 curved upward. Becurvirostra is 4-toed, and full-webbed ; the bill is decidedly 

 recurved, flattened, and tapers to a needle-like point ; the body is depressed ; the 

 plumage underneath is thickened as in water birds. The species swim well. 

 Himantopus is 3-toed, semipalmate, the bill nearly straight, and not flattened; in 

 relative length of leg it is probably not surpassed by any bird whatsoever. These 

 two genera, each of three or four species of various parts of the world, with 



the Cladorhynchus pectoralis of Australia, 



compose the family. 



196. Gen. RECURVIROSTRA Linnaeus. 



Avocei. Blue-stocldng . White ; back 

 and wings with much black ; head and neck 

 cinnamon-brown iu the adult, ashj^ in the 

 young (i?. o(xidentaUs Cass., 111. 232, pi. 

 FIG. 159. Bill and foot of Avocet. 40); bill black; legs blue; eyes red; 



16-18 ; wing 7-8 ; tail 3 J ; tarsus 3 J. Temperate N. Am. WiLs. , vii, 126, pi. 

 63, f. 2; NuTT.,ii, 74; AuD., vi, 24,pl.353; Cass, in Bd., 703. Americana. 



Ve 



197. Genus HIMANTOPUS Brisson. 



■■ Stilt. Longshanks. Lcnvyer. Glossy black ; 

 forehead, sides of head and neck, rump and 

 under parts, white ; tail white or ashy ; bill 

 black ; legs carmine. Young with back and 

 wings brown. 13-15; wing 8-9; tail 3; 

 tarsus 4. United States. Wils., vii, 48, pi. 



58, f. 2; AuD., vi, 31, pi. 

 Cass, in Bd., 704. . . 



i54: 



NuTT., ii, 8 ; 



NIGKICOLLIS. 



Fam. PHALAROPODID-aE. 



"'-^^^'^^^^ 



riG. 160. stilt. 



Phalaropes. 



This is likewise a small family ; the three species 

 comprising it resemble sandpipers, but are imme- 

 diately distinguished by the lobate feet ; the toes are furnished with plain or scalloped 

 membranes, like those of coots and grebes, but not so broad. The body is depressed, 

 and the under plumage thick and duck-like to resist water, on which the birds swim with 

 perfect ease and grace. The wings and tail are like those of ordinary sandpipers ; the 

 tarsi are much compressed ; there is basal webbing of the toes besides the marginal 

 membrane ; the bill, and some other details of form, difl'er in each of the three species. 

 These birds inhabit the northern portions of both hemispheres, two of them at 

 least breeding only in boreal regions, but tliey all wander far southward in winter. 



