252 
SCOLOPACIN^. HIMANTOPUS. 
compressed, rather acute. Plumage soft and blended. Wings 
long, pointed, the first quill longest ; inner secondaries 
elongated and tapering. Tail short, even, of twelve rather 
narrow rounded feathers. Tongue short in proportion to 
the length of the hill, slender, tapering to a point; oeso- 
phagus wide, considerably dilated at the lower part of the 
neck ; stomach an oblong gizzard of moderate strength, its 
epithelium hard, longitudinally rugous ; intestine long and 
of moderate width ; coeca rather long. 
355. 1. Recurvirostra Americana, Linnp American Avocet. 
Plate CCCXVIII. Adult, and Young in winter. 
Bill black ; feet light blue ; head, neck, and fore part of breast reddish- 
buff*, the parts around the base of the bill and the eye nearly white ; back 
white, with a longitudinal band of brownish-black elongated feathers 
on each side ; inner scapulars of the same colour, the outer and inte- 
rior edge of the wing being white ; wing brownish-black, with a broad 
band of white, formed by the tips of the secondary coverts, four of 
the inner secondaries, and the basal part, with the inner webs and 
outer edges of the rest ; lower parts white. 
18 , 30 |. 
Passes along the coast from Texas northward, in small numbers, a 
few breeding in New Jersey. Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Abun- 
dant in the Rocky Mountains, and the Fur Countries. Migratory. ^ 
American Avocet, Recurvirostra Americana, WiLS. Amer. Om. v. vii. p. 126. 
Recurvirostra Americana, Bonap. Syn. p. 394. 
Recurvirostra Americana, American Avocet, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. 
V. ii. p. 375. 
American Avocet, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 74. 
American Avocet, Recurvirostra Americana, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 168. 
GENUS IX. HIMANTOPUS, Briss. STILT. 
Bill about twice as long as the head, very slender, round- 
ish, tapering, slightly recurved ; upper mandible with its 
outline slightly curved upwards, the ridge rather flattened, 
the sides convex, the edges inflected, the tip narrow and 
rather acute ; nasal groove nearly half the length of the 
bill ; lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, 
the sides grooved as flir as the angle. Nostrils linear, di- 
rect, subbasal. Head small, ovate, rounded above ; neck 
