352 
The Avocet 
Scarcity 
in the East 
ander Wilson, the ornithologist, found them breeding on the salt, marshes 
of New Jersey, and perhaps southward. 
In examining the published lists of birds for the various States east 
of the Mississippi, it is quite common to-day to find mention made of 
this bird as a “rare transient” or an “occasional visitor.” Probably few, 
if any, are to be found at present breeding east of the Mississippi, except, 
perhaps in the State of Illinois. Their almost total disappearance from 
the eastern United States may be attributed entirely to the continuous 
onslaught which has been made on their ranks by gunners engaged in 
the shooting of shore-birds. Many Avocets yet remain in the far-western 
States, and they have been known to breed in Texas. 
Apparently they do not breed farther north than 
Saskatchewan. In winter they may be met with along 
the Gulf Coast of the United States, and on marshy lands to the south- 
warj.' 
As an economic agent in destroying injurious insects or the seeds 
of troublesome weeds the Avocet cannot be rated high, for it gets its 
living in or about the water, feeding on such small forms of life as are 
there obtainable. It is known to eat small snails and water-insects, both 
in the adult and larval stages. On salty marshes it collects many worms 
from the muddy water through which it w^ades. On the other hand no 
one, apparently, has ever gone so far as to say that the Avocet is inju- 
rious to. any of man’s interests. It is deplorable, therefore, that the lakes 
and water-ways of the East should now be deprived of this great wader. 
Only a few weeks ago I w^as impressed anew with the beauty of these 
birds. While passing down the valley of Cane Creek, in southeastern 
Oregon, a flock of about fifty Avocets arose and indulged in a series of 
evolutions which even the most casual observer would have paused to 
watch. In a fairly compact company they flew away for a short dis- 
tance, then turned and, after coming back almost to the starting point, 
dived toward the earth, arose again perhaps forty 
Beauty yards in the air, then swung around and came back. 
These maneuvers were repeated at least three times. 
Their white and black plumage, flashing against the gray sage-brush of 
the desert-like mountain-side, and sharply relieved as they skimmed over 
the alkaline creek, made a picture long to be remembered. 
Fortunately for the species, and also fo-r us, the regulations under the 
Federal Migratory Bird Law now prohibit killing an Avocet. This is 
but one of the many wise provisions in that statute ; and there is 
every reason to believe that the enactment of this law bespeaks a brighter 
day for the Avocet, as well as for many other species of shore-birds that 
in the past have been sorely persecuted. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Avocet belongs to the Order LimicolcB, and the Family Recurvirostridcu. 
Its scientific name is Recurvirostra americana. It breeds from eastern Oregon 
and southern Saskatchewan to southern California, northern Texas, and eastward 
to the upper Mississippi Valley; and it winters in Texas, Mexico and Guatemala. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
