424 AMERICAN A VOSE T. 



weed, &c, raised to the height of several inches. The eggs 

 were four, of a dull olive colour, 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 Octo- 

 ber. 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 is 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 ex- 

 tremely fine point ; hides, reddish hazel ; whole head, neck, 

 and breast, a light sorrel colour; 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 

 tipt with white; secondaries, white on their outer edges and 

 Avhole 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 mem- 

 brane somewhat the broadest; there is a very 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 stomach was 



