28 
AMERICAN AVOSET. 
dible, dilatable like those of the genus pelicanus , space round 
the eye, orange ; irides, blood red ; cheeks and hind head, a 
bare black skin ; neck, long, covered with short white feathers, 
some of which, on the upper part of the neck, are tipt with 
crimson ; breast, white, the sides of which are tinged with a 
brown burnt colour ; from the upper part of the breast pro- 
ceeds a long tuft of line hair-like plumage, of a pale rose co- 
lour ; back, white, slightly tinged with brownish ; wings, a pale 
wild rose colour, the shafts lake ; the shoulders of the wings 
are covered with long hairy plumage, of a deep and splendid 
carmine ; upper and lower tail-coverts, the same rich red ; 
belly, rosy ; rump, paler ; tail, equal at the end, consisting of 
twelve feathers of a bright brownish orange, the shafts reddish; 
legs and naked part of the thighs, dark dirty red ; feet, half 
webbed ; toes, very long, particularly the hind one. The upper 
part of the neck had the plumage partly worn away, as if oc- 
casioned by resting it on the back, in the manner of the ibis. 
The skin on the crown is a little wrinkled ; the inside of the 
wing a much richer red than the outer. 
AMERICAN AVOSET RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA. 
Plate LXIII. Fig. 26. 
Arct. Zool. No. 421. — Lath. Syn. iii. p. 295, No. 2. — Peak's Museum, 
No. 4250. 
EE C UR riROSTRA A MERICANA.—L\m(MVS.* 
Avocette Isabelle, Recurvirostra Americana, Temm. Man. d' Orn. ii. p. 594. — 
Recurvirostra Americana, Bonap. Synop. p. 345. 
This species, from its perpetual clamour and flippancy of 
tongue, is called, by the inhabitants of Cape May, the lawyer ; 
* This curious genus contains four known species ; perhaps, ere long, another 
may be made out. They nearly resemble each other, and all possess the turned- 
up bill. In their manners, they assimilate generally with the totani, feed like 
them, and are very clamorous when their nest is approached. Like them, also, 
though possessed of partially webbed feet, they do not swim or take the water 
freely, except when wading, or by compulsion. — Ed. 
