282 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
immunity from persecution that it deserves.” Speaking of its remark¬ 
able adaptations, he writes: “Its slender, upward-curved bill may well 
excite wonder, but Nature knew what she was about in designing it, for 
its form admirably adapts it for finding and seizing any prey that may 
rest on the surface of the muddy ooze, or for probing for various 
larval forms common in fresh water” (1915, p. 147). In feeding, Doc¬ 
tor Chapman says, it lowers its bill till its convexity touches the bot¬ 
tom, and then moves rapidly forward, with every step swinging its 
bill from side to side as a mower does his scythe. It nests on the 
margins of the ponds which it frequents, and no sooner does an intruder 
appear than it flies to meet him with a loud plee-eek that unmistakably 
betrays the secret it is so anxious to conceal. 
When studying the Avocets, Mr. Bent says, “they fooled us fre¬ 
quently as to the location of their nests by squatting on the bare ground 
as if sitting on their eggs, and then flying off yelping at us if we drew 
near. They were very much at home in the water, swimming lightly 
and gracefully, and feeding in the shallow water by dipping their heads 
under, like the surface-feeding ducks.” In May, during courtship, 
he tells us, “they danced along the shore or waded in the shallow water 
holding their wings fully extended, tipping from side to side, as if 
balancing themselves. Sometimes they would run rapidly along, 
crouching close to the ground, frequently nodding or bowing, and some¬ 
times they would lie flat on the water or ground, with wings outstretched 
as if in agony (1907, p. 425). 
A remarkable mass movement—milling—of probably a hundred and 
fifty Avocets on a small round island, was witnessed by Mr. C. E. H. 
Aiken in Utah. 
The soft colors of the Avocets tone in well with the pale tints of 
the alkali plains they frequent, but during one of their fall migrations 
we found Sandpipers, Plovers, Willets, Black-necked Stilts, Curlews, 
and Avocets taking advantage of the food to be found in the green 
irrigated fields of the Bolles Ranch at Carlsbad. The two Avocets 
that Professor Merrill found spending the summer at Mesquite Lake 
feeding along shore or in the shallows, were equally social and when 
wading around among a flock of ducks, if alarmed would rise with 
them wheeling and turning in unison till the whole flock lit again. 
In spite of being a conspicuous object in the landscape, we may 
now hope to keep this remarkable bird with us, for as Mr. Henshaw 
writes, “the Avocet, so innocent and so beautiful, is now protected by 
the Federal law and, as its flesh is worthless, neither sportsmen nor 
gunners have any excuse for slaughtering it” (1915, p. 147). 
Additional Literature.—Aiken, C. E. H., and E. R. Warren. The birds of 
El Paso County, Colorado, Part I, 485,1914.— Bennett, W. W., Bird-Lore, XXVII, 
86-91, 1925 (nesting).— Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer, Game Birds of California’ 
