AVOCETS, STILTS: BLACK-NECKED STILT 
283 
337-344, 1918.— Hersey, L. J., and R. B. Rockwell, Condor, XI, 115, 1909 
(nest).— Pearson, T. G., Educational Leaflet 88, Nat. Assoc. Audubon Soc.— 
Rockwell, R. B., Condor, XIV, 123-125, 1912 (nest).— Saunders, A. A., Condor, 
XVI, 130, 133, 1914 (nest).— Tyler, J. G., Pacific Coast Avifauna, No. 9, 24-25, 
1913.— Wetmore, Alexander, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 1359, 12-16, 1925. 
BLACK-NECKED STILT: Himantopus mexicanus (Muller) 
Plate 28 
Description. — Length: 13.5-15.5 inches, wing 8.5-9, bill 2.5, tarsus 4. Bill 
nearly straight, slightly upcurved; wings and legs very long, tail short; hind toe 
wanting, front toes slightly webbed. Adult male: Upperparts glossy black with green¬ 
ish reflections except for white of lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts, and 
brownish tail; face, spot above eye, and underparts white, forencck and breast flushed 
with pink in breeding season; axillars white, wing linings black; bill black, iris, legs 
and feet lake red or rose pink (in life). Adult female: Like male but back and shoul¬ 
ders grayish brown and black duller (not metallic). Young in juvenal plumage: 
Like the adult female but duller, upperparts and wing linings marked with bully or 
whitish. 
Range. —Breeds from Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Louisiana, and Florida south 
through the Bahama Islands, Cuba, and Porto Rico to Venezuela and Peru, also in 
Tamaulipas and California; winters from southern Lower California and southern 
parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida (rare in North Carolina), in Porto Rico and 
presumably throughout most or all of its breeding range in Central and South 
America (Bent, 1927). 
State Records. —The valleys of the Rio Grande and the Pecos seem to be the 
only places in New Mexico where the Black-necked Stilt has as yet been noted breed¬ 
ing, but since the species breeds at the alkali lakes of the San Luis Valley in southern 
Colorado, it is probable that it also nests at similar lakes in Rio Arriba County, 
New Mexico. The breeding range extends across the State from the vicinity of Las 
Vegas (Mitchell) to Los Pinos (Coues) and Carlsbad (Bailey)- During the summer 
of 1913 it was found nesting at Clark Lake near Carlsbad June 25; at a small alkali 
lake near Roswell June 27; and at the mouth of Salt Creek, 15 miles above Roswell— 
a nest with eggs—June 28 (Ligon). Three birds were seen at Mesilla, July 11, 1913 
(Merrill), one at Pecos, 7,000 feet, July 19, 1901 (Bailey), and one at Beaver Lake, 
7,500 feet, August 26, 1908 (Bailey). It has been noted in the fall in the Jornada as 
late as September 25, 1905 (Ligon). 
When Coues crossed New Mexico in 1864 he found it abundant, but of late 
years it has decreased decidedly in numbers. [While not common, it is fairly well 
distributed in summer and in migration, was nesting in the Pecos Valley and east— 
1916-1918. Between Socorro and Albuquerque, in 1917, ten were seen August 28, 
and two, September 4. On June 1, 1924, at least ten pairs, most of them no doubt 
breeding birds, were found on some shallow but permanent lakes near the Pecos 
River, about two miles east of Dexter, Chaves County. One nest with four eggs was 
located. On May 12, 1925, five nests with eggs were located at the same place, and 
a dozen or more pairs of nesting birds seen. On May 14, 1925, between 30 and 40 
birds were seen at Willow Lake, about 20 miles south of Carlsbad. Six nests with 
eggs were located (Ligon). On June 5, 1921, a female was taken on an irrigation 
pond in the Mimbres River, 30 miles southeast of Silver City (Kellogg). At Lake 
Burford, four were found on the north shore on May 30, 1918, but they passed on 
at once (Wetmore). J —W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —In colonies, often on muddy islands in ponds or in flooded fields, when 
they are merely hollows lined with a few weed stems; but also in the brush on the 
