540 AMERICAN AVOSET. 
In describing the Long-legged Avoset, in a former part of this work, 
the similarity between that and the present was taken notice of. This 
resemblance extends to every thing but their color. I found both 
these birds associated together on the salt marshes of New Jersey, on 
the 20th of May. They were then breeding. Individuals of the 
present species were few in respect to thé other. They flew around 
the shallow pools exactly in the manner of the Long-Legs, uttering the 
like sharp note of click, click, click, alighting on the marsh or in the 
water indiscriminately, fluttering their loose wings, and shaking their 
half-bent legs, as if ready to tumble~over, keeping up a continual 
yelping note. They were, however, rather more shy, and kept at a 
greater distance. One which J wounded attempted repeatedly to dive ; 
but the water was too shallow to permit him to do this with facility. 
The nest was built among the thick tufts of grass, at a small distance 
from one of these pools. It was‘ composed of small twigs of a sea-side 
shrub, dry grass, sea weed, &c., raised to the height of several inches. 
The eggs were four, of a dull olive color, marked with large, irregular 
blotches of black, and with others of a fainter tint. 
This species arrives on the coast of Cape May late in April; rears 
its young, and departs again to the south early in October. While 
here, it almost constantly frequents the shallow pools in the salt 
marshes; wading about, often to the. belly, in search of food, viz, 
marine worms, snails, and various insects that abound among the soft, 
muddy bottoms of the pools. 
The male of this species ie eighteen inches and a half long, and two 
feet and a half in extent; the bill is black, four inches in length, flat 
above, the general curvature upwards, except at the extremity, where 
it bends slightly down, ending in an extremely fine point; irides, 
reddish hazel; whole head, neck, and breast, a ligit sorel color; round 
the eye, and on the chin, nearly white; upper part of the back and 
wings, black; scapulars, and almost the whole back, white, though 
generally concealed by the black of the upper parts; belly, vent, and 
thighs, pure white;-tail, equal at the end, white, very slightly tinged 
with cinereous; tertials, dusky brown; greater coverts, tipped with 
white ; secondaries, white on their outer edges, and whole inner vanes ; 
rest of the wing, deep black; naked part of the thighs, two and a half 
inches; legs, four inches, both of a very pale light blue, exactly 
formed, thinned, and netted, like those of the Long-Legs; feet, half 
webbed; the outer membrane somewhat the broadest; there is a vety 
slight hind toe, which, claw and all, does not exceed a quarter of an 
inch in length. In these two latter circumstances alone it differs from 
the Long-Legs, but is in every other strikingly alike. 
The female was two inches shorter, and three less in extent; the 
head and neck a much paler rufous, fading almost to white on the 
breast, and separated from the black of the back by a broader band of 
white ; the bill was three inches and a half long; the leg half an inch 
shorter ; in every other respect marked as the male. She contained a 
great number of eggs, some of them nearly ready for exclusion. The 
up bill. In their manners, they assimilate generally with the Totani, feed like them, 
and are very clamorous when their nest is approached. Like them, also, though 
possessed of partially webbed feet, they do not swim or tak. the water frecly, ex- 
cept when wading, or by compulsion. — Ep. 
