GRALLATORES. 



375 



markings. Its under plumage is also more of a dull straw colour than bright ochraceous. 

 Its dimensions are equal to the other, but it is probably a younger bird. 



Form. — Bill straight, tapering, compressed, and finely serrated towards the point ; very 

 acute. Wings broad and rounded ; second and third quills the longest. Tail rounded, of 

 ten feathers ; also much rounded at the ends*. A short web between the middle and outer 

 toes ; inner toe quite free. Claws tapering and very acute, rounded beneath ; middle one 

 pectinated. 



Dimensions 

 Of the male. 



Length, totalf . 

 ,, of tail 

 „ of wing 

 „ of bill above 



Inch. Lin. 



31 Length of bill to rictus 



4 6 ,, of whole thigh 



11 6 „ of naked part 



3 4 ,, of tarsus . 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



4 Length of middle toe . .3 3 



.50 „ of middle claw . 10^ 



1 C ,, of hind toe . .1 7 



3 9 „ of its claw . .13 



[143.] 1. Recurvirostra Americana. (Linn.) American Avoset. 



Genus, Recurvirostra, Linn. 



American Avoset. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 502, No. 421, pi. 21. Wils., vii., p, 126, pi. 63, f. 2.| 



Recurvirostra Americana. Bonap. Syn., No. 280. 



This singular bird abounds on the Saskatchewan plains, where it frequents 

 shallow lakes, and feeds on insects and small fresh-water Crustacea. The crops 

 of those we killed contained fragments of the latter, mixed with gravel. Like the 

 birds of the genus totanus, it is noisy, utters cries of distress, and flies towards 

 any one who invades its haunts. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, May 7, 1827- 



Colour. — Head, neck, and breast reddish-orange, approaching to hyacinth-red. Interior 

 scapulars and wings black. The back§, outer scapulars, tips of the greater coverts, outer 

 margins and inner webs of the secondaries, and all the under plumage posterior to the 

 breast, with the circumference of the eye and region of the bill, white; tertiaries and upper 

 surface of the tail tinged with grey. Bill pitch-black. Legs greenish-black. 



* Wilson says the American Bittern has invariably twelve tail feathers ; nine of our specimens have no more than 

 ten ; but two of the under coverts are as long as the tail, and would be reckoned by some ornithologists among the 

 rectrices. 



t Length from the tip of the bill to the breast, the neck stretched out, 19^ inches. 

 Length of the body, excluding the tail . . . • 8^ „ 



1 The figure in Arctic Zoology is good, except that the bill appears to have been broken. Wilson's figure, correct 

 as to form, differs from our bird in wanting a white space between the scapulars, and in the white band on the outer 

 scapulars not being continued over the humeral joint. A figure in Griffith's translation of Cuvier, said to be intended 

 for this species, represents the tip of the bill as turned up, the feet almost completely webbed, and the whole of the 

 scapulars black. 



i} There is a concealed tuft of blackish-grey feathers at the base of the long tail coverts. 



