256 Mr. J. E. Harting on rare 
Between the date of Mr. Vigors’s description above quoted 
(1829) and the publication of Mr. Cassin’s excellent ‘Illus¬ 
trations of the Birds of California, &c.’ in 1856, in which the 
bird in question is figured (pi. 40), no observations seem to 
have been recorded to impugn the validity of the so-called 
species, Mr. Cassin remarking that, since the date first men¬ 
tioned, it had been “ again noticed only by Col. McCall and 
l)r. Heermann, both of whom, however, represent it as being 
by no means a rare bird.” Dr. Heermann found it in various 
parts of California, and procured numerous specimens, which 
are now in the National Museum, Washington, and in the 
Museum of the Philadelphia Academy. He observed it re¬ 
sorting to shallow pools, in which it waded breast deep, usually 
finding on the soft muddy bottom a plentiful feast of insects 
and snails.” “Although partially web-footed,” he adds, “it 
does not swim, so far as I have noticed, unless wounded, when 
it takes immediately to the deep water, swimming with great 
celerity, soon getting beyond range if not at once disabled by 
a second shot.” “ I have noticed this bird in abundance,” 
he continues, “ on the borders of the reedy swamps which 
cover a large portion of the lower part of the Sacramento 
valley.” 
The observations of Col. McCall upon this species, as pub¬ 
lished by Mr. Cassin in the work to which I have referred, 
are particularly interesting; and, indeed, without reference 
to them the present notice would scarcely be complete. He 
says:—“ At the village of San Elizario, 22 miles south of 
El Paso, on the 16th October, 1851,1 found small flocks of the 
Western Avocet feeding along the banks of the Bio Grande, 
and frequenting the sloughs and pools in its vicinity, whilst 
moving to the south in the course of their regular autumnal 
migration. They were tame and unsuspicious, and evidently 
ignorant of the destructive character of the gun; for its report 
seemed to create little alarm, even when the discharge carried 
death into their ranks. To illustrate this I need only mention 
the fact that the first flock which came immediately under my 
observation alighted within twenty yards of the piazza where 
I was sitting, on the morning after my arrival. They waded 
