The American A vocet 
Nesting at Los Banos is conducted in May. Young birds are nor¬ 
mally astir by the 20th of that month; but there are many disasters inci¬ 
dent to changes of water level or to predatory animals. Second nestings 
are attempted in case the first is lost, and family cares are sometimes pro¬ 
tracted into July. Nests, at their worst, may consist of a mere depression 
in the dry earth, around which a few broken twigs have been gathered; at 
their best, a soft cushion of dried reeds or grasses, carefully culled, may 
support the four eggs. The birds affect a sort of puritanical simplicity, 
and will usually employ a single sort of material even where many are 
available. The birds are sometimes called upon to meet the exigency of 
rapidly rising water, although they are not quite so clever at it as are the 
Stilts, and 1 have seen drowned-out nests. With the approach of the 
water the wise ones gather, succulent vegetation or pluck grass-roots, earth 
and all, and force it under the eggs. In this way they will erect a trun¬ 
cated cone several inches in height, and often succeed in escaping the 
inundation. One monumental nest I found on the 3rd of June, 1914, 
which supported eggs in the very act of hatching, above five inches of 
water. There was quick wit and true! 
Taken in Merced County 
NEST AND EGGS OF BLACK-NECKED STILT 
Photo by the A ulhor 
1203 
