The American Avocet 



1910, p. 19 (distr. and migr .) ; Lamb and Howell, Condor, vol. xv., 1913, p. 117 (Buena 

 Vista Lake, breeding); Tyler, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 9, 1913, p. 24 (San Joaquin 

 Valley, habits, etc.). 



ODDITY in a bird makes both for distinction and extinction. Every- 

 body has seen pictures of the Avocet, with its curiously upturned beak and 

 its long blue legs; and almost everybody has received the impression that 

 it is one of the doomed races, a marvel of the elder time. While it is true 

 that the bird is no longer to be found east of the Mississippi River; and 

 that the species as a whole has been reduced to perhaps one-tenth of its 

 former numbers; it has, nevertheless, been fortunate in finding extensive 

 asylum in the central valleys of California; and here it may be studied 

 today as of yore, to every advantage. 



Taken in Merced County Photo by the Author 



A DECORATED MIRROR FOR MILADY AVOCET J ' IQJ 



