RECURVIROSTRIDiE — THE AY OCETS — RECURYIROSTRA. 
341 
1. R. americana. Outer scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, also part of secondaries and 
greater wing-coverts, white, at all ages. Hob. North and Middle America. 
2. R. andina. 1 No white whatever on upper parts, except head and neck. Hah. Andes of 
Chili. 
Recurvirostra americana. 
AMERICAN AVOCET. 
Recurvirostra americana, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 693. — -Wilson, Am. Orn. VII. 1813, 126, pi. 63, 
fig. 9. — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 75. — Aud. Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 168, pi. 318 ; Synop. 1839, 
252; Birds Am. VI. 1843, 24, pi. 353. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 703 ; Cat. N. Am. B. 
1859, no. 517. — Coues, Key, 1872, 147 ; Check List, 1873, no. 407; 2d ed. 1882, no. 600. — 
Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 566. 
Recurvirostra occidentalis, Vig. Zool. Jour. IV. 1829, 356 ; Zool. Voy. Blossom, 1839, 28, pi. 12. — 
Cassin, Illustr. B. Cal. Tex. etc. 1855, 232, pi. 40 (= winter plumage !). 
Hab. Temperate North America; north to the Saskatchewan and Great Slave Lake, south 
(in winter) to Guatemala, Cuba, and Jamaica. Much rarer in the Eastern than in the Western 
Province. 
Sp. Char. Wings (except secondaries, terminal half of greater coverts, and inner secondaries), 
inner scapulars, and adjoining feathers of the back, brownish black ; lower parts, rump, outer scap- 
ulars, and middle of the back white ; tail ashy white or pale ashy. Adult in summer : Head, 
neck, and breast, light cinnamon, becoming white around the bill and fading gradually into the 
white of the body. Tertials brownish gray. Adult ( and young) in winter: Head, neck, and 
breast, white, more or less tinged with pale bluish gray, especially on crown and nape. Young : 
Primaries slightly tipped with whitish ; scapulars and feathers of back tipped or transversely 
mottled with pale fulvous or buff. Crown dull grayish ; nape tinged with light rufous. Total 
length, about 17.00 to 18.75 inches; extent, 30.00 to 36.00 ; Wing, 8.50-9.00 ; culnien, 3.40-3.65 ; 
tarsus, 3.70-3.80 ; middle toe, 1.60-1.70. Bill deep black ; iris umber-brown ; legs and feet ashy 
blue. 
The intensity of the cinnamon-color on the head and neck varies with the individual ; some- 
times there is a dusky gray suffusion around the eye, this being especially characteristic of younger 
birds. 
The American Avocet is a bird of irregular or occasional appearance in various 
portions of North America, and is found in most of the Southern States in greater or 
less abundance during the winter months, breeding in numerous localities along the 
Atlantic coast as far north as Long Island, and also, under favoring circumstances, 
throughout the interior, at least as far south as Southwestern Texas. It is abundant 
1 Recurvirostra andina, Philifpi & Landbeck, Wiegm. Arch. 1863, 131. — Harting, Ibis, 1874. 
257, pi. 9. 
