138 
RECURVI ROSTRA AMERICANA. 
frequents the shallow pools in the salt marshes; wading 
about, often to the belly, in search of food ; viz. marine 
worms, snails, and various insects that abound among 
the soft muddy bottoms of the pools. 
The male of this species is eighteen inches and a half 
long, and two feet and a half in extent ; the bill is 
black, four inches in length, flat above, the general 
curvature upwards, except at the extremity, where it 
bends slightly down, ending in an extremely fine point ; 
hides, reddish hazel ; whole head, neck, and breast, a 
light sorrel colour ; round the eye, and on the chin, 
nearly white ; upper part of the back and wings, black ; 
scapulars, and almost the whole back, white, though 
generally concealed by the black of the upper parts ; 
belly, vent, and thighs, pure white ; tail, equal at the 
end, white, very slightly tinged with cinereous ; tertials, 
dusky brown ; greater coverts, tipt with white ; secon- 
daries, white on their outer edges, and whole inner 
vanes ; rest of the wing, deep black ; naked part of the 
thighs, two and a half inches ; legs, four inches, both 
of a very pale light blue, exactly formed, thinned, and 
netted, like those of the long legs ; feet, half webbed ; 
the outer membrane somewhat the broadest ; there is 
a very slight hind toe, which, claw and all, does not 
exceed a quarter of an inch in length. In these two 
latter circumstances alone it differs from the long legs, 
but is in every other strikingly alike. 
The female was two inches shorter, and three less in 
extent ; the head and neck a much paler rufous, fading 
almost to white on the breast, and separated from the 
black of the back by a broader band of white ; the bill 
was three inches and a half long ; the leg half an inch 
shorter ; in every other respect marked as the male. 
She contained a great number of eggs, some of them 
nearly ready for exclusion. The stomach was filled 
with small nails, periwinkle shell fish, some kind of 
mossy vegetable food, and a number of aquatic insects. 
The intestines were infested with tape worms, and a 
number of smaller bot-like worms, some of which 
wallowed in the cavity of the abdomen. 
