AMERICAN AVOSET. 539 
have endeavored faithfully to delineate the figure uf this «. nerican 
species, and may, perhaps, resume the subject in some future part of 
the present work. a 
The Roseate Spoon-Bill, now before us, measured two feet six inches 
in length, and near four feet in extent; the bill was six inches and a 
half’ long from the corner of the mouth, seven from its upper base, 
two inches over at its greatest width, and three quarters of an inch 
where narrowest; of a black color for half its length, and covered 
with hard, scaly protuberances, like the edges of oyster shells ; these 
are of a whitish tint, stained with red; the nostrils are oblong, and 
placed in the centre of the upper mandible; from the lower end of 
each there runs a deep groove along each side of the mandible, and 
about a quarter of. an inch from its edge ; whole crown and chin, bare 
of plumage, and covered with a greenish skin; that below the under 
mandible, dilatable like those of the genu$ Pelicanus ; space round 
the eye, orange; irides, blood red; cheeks and hind head, a bare, 
black skin; neck, long, covered with short, white feathers, some of 
which, on the upper part of the neck, are tipped with crimson ; breast, 
white, the sides of which are tinged with a brown, burnt color; from 
the upper part of the breast proceeds a long tuft of fine, hair-like plu- 
mage, of a pale rose color; back, white, slightly tinged with brown- 
ish; wings, a pale wild rose color, the shafts lake; the shoulders of 
the wings are covered with long, hairy plumage, of a deep and splen- 
did carmine; upper and lower tail-coverts, the same rich red}; belly, 
rosy ; rump, paler; tail, equal at the end, consisting of twelve feath- 
ers of a bright brownish orange, the shafts reddish; legs and naked 
part of the thighs, dark dirty red; feet, half webbed ; toes, very long, 
particularly the hind one. The upper part of the neck had the plu- 
mage partly worn away, as if occasioned by resting it on the back, 
in the manner of the Ibis, The skin on the crown is a little wrinkled; 
the inside of the wing a much richer red than the outer. 
—~>———_ 
AMERICAN AVOSET. -- RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA. — 
Fie. 253. 
Arct, Zool. No. 421.— Lath. Syn. iii. p. 295, No. 2.— Peale’s Museum, No. 4250. 
RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA. —Linyx£us.* 
Avocette isabelle, Recurvirostra Americana, Temm. Man. d’Orn. ii. p. 594,—~— 
Recurvirostra Americana, Bonup. Synop. p. 345. 
Tis species, from its perpetual clamor and flippancy of tongue, is 
called, by the inhabitants of Cape May, the Lawyer; the comparison, 
however, reaches no farther ; for our Lawyer is simple, timid, and per- 
fectly inoffensive. 
migratory; their flesh reported to savor of that of a Goose; the young are reck- 
oned good food. 
* This curious genus contains four known species ; perhaps, ere long, another 
may be made out. They nearly resemble each other, and all possess the turned- 
