276 



HIMANTOPUS. 



Chilian subregion seems to have compelled some of the white-crowned Stilts to emigrate a 

 second time ; they seem to have crossed the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



So far as is known, the following key to the species applies to young in first plumage 

 as well as to adult birds. 



f brasiliensis • 



melanopterus 

 leucocephalus 



Mantle and wings black . </ mexicanUS. 



knudseni 



melas • • 

 ^ andinus 



r 



pectoralis 



Innermost primaries and ru])ricollis 



secondaries white . . . i 



Tertiaries white in adult, 

 barred with white in 

 young. 



i avocetta 



americanus 



J Black on neck reaching to ear- 

 ( coverts but not to crown. 

 Black on neck, if present, 

 separated from back. 



[Black on neck not reaching 

 to any part of head. 



Posterior half of lores black. 



Axillaries black. 



Toes deeply webbed. 



►White on scapulars. 



Of the eleven species contained in this genus the first six may be regarded as typical 

 Stilts, with a black mantle and no hind toe ; the seventh, H. andinus, is an aberrant Stilt, 

 having a black mantle, but with a small hind toe. The eighth, H. pectoralis, is an 

 aberrant Avocet, having a white mantle, but no hind toe; whilst the three last may 

 be regarded as typical Avocets, with a white mantle and a small hind toe. 



