BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
439 
Habitat .—Temperate regions of North America; rare in east but rather common 
in south and west. 
A very rare and irregular visitor to Pennsylvania. A tine adult female Sandhill 
Crane was shot by Dr. Thos. L. Hazzard, of Allegheny City, in the fall of 1878, along 
Pigeon creek, in Washington county, near Monongahela City. Dr. Hazzard 
mounted the bird, and at this writing has it in his collection. 
RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA Gm. 
American Avocet. 
Description. 
Bill very slender, decidedly recurved toward tip, and much longer than head. 
Tail short and square ; legs long and slender and dull-blue in color. Feet with four 
toes ; the three anterior toes full-webbed. 
Adult, summer dress .—Interscapular and inner scapular feathers and wings 
brownish-black. Tail feathers light grayish-blue ; under parts, lining of wings, 
outer scapulars, middle of back and rump, white ; chin and front of face whitish; 
head and neck more or less tinged with reddish-brown ; bill, black; iris, brownish. 
“ Adult ( and young ) in ivinter .—Head, neck and breast, white, more or less tinged 
with pale bluisli-gray, especially on crown and nape. * * * Total length, about 
17.00 to 18.75 inches; extent, 30 to 36; culmen, 3.40-3.65; tarsus, 3.70-3.80.” —Water 
Birds. 
Habitat .—Temperate North America, from the Saskatchewan and Great Slave 
Lake southward ; in winter, south to Guatemala and the West Indies. Rare in the 
Eastern Province. 
Very rare or accidental summer visitor. Hon. J. J. Libhart, about twenty years 
ago, obtained two of these birds in the late summer, along the Susquehanna river 
in Lancaster county. Mr. Wm. J. Sherratt, of Philadelphia, informs me that an 
Avocet was killed in the latter part of August, 1888, along the Delaware river, near 
Philadelphia. Formerly this species was often met with on the coast of New Jersey 
where now it is rarely if ever found. According to Dr. Coues this bird is abundant 
in the west, especially in the alkaline regions. 
TRINGA BAIRDII (Coues). 
Baird’s Sandpiper. 
• Description. 
Bill small, slender, rather shorter than the head, equal to the tarsus, the tip 
scarcely expanded, its tips very acute. Grooves in both mandibles very long and 
deep, that of the lower very narrow. Feathers extending on the side of lower man¬ 
dible much farther than those on the upper, about half as far as those between the 
rami. Wings, long ; first and second primaries about equal, but varying, third 
much shorter; tertials long, slender, flowing. Tail rather long, but slightly doubly 
marginate, the central feathers rounded, projecting but little. Toes long, slender, 
slightly margined, the middle with its claw about equal to tarsus. 
Adult in breeding plumage.— Entire upper parts a very dark brownish-black, 
deeper on the rump and lighter on the neck behind, each feather bordered and tipped 
with light reddish-yellow; on the scapulars the tips broader and nearly pure white, and 
the margins brighter, making several deep indentations towards the shaft. Uppertail- 
coverts long, extending to within half an inch of the tips of the central tail-feathers, 
black, except the outer series, which are white with dusky markings. Central tail- 
feathers brownish-black, the rest successively lighter, and all with a narrow border of 
white. Jugulum with a very decided light brownish suffusion (much as in T. macu- 
lata) , and, together with the sides under the wings to some distance, with rounded ob¬ 
solete spots and streaks of dusky. Throat and under parts generally white, immacu¬ 
late. Bill, legs and feet black. 
