ZOOLOGY. 
235 
Figures. —Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, pi. 63, fig. 2. Aud. B. of Am. pi. 318; oct. ed. vi; pi. 353. Latham, Synopsis, V, pi. 92. 
Cassin, B. of C 1. and Texas, pi. 40. (Young.) 
Si*. Ch.—B ill rather long, depressed; wings long; legs long; tarsi compressed; tail short. Jldnlt: Head and neck pale 
reddish brown, darker on the head and fading gradually into white. Back, wing coverts, and quills, black; scapulars, tips of 
greater wing coverts, rump and tail, and entire under paits, white; the last frequently tinged with reddish. Bill brownish 
black, legs bluish. Young: Very similar to the adult, but with the head and neck white, frequently tinged with ashy on the 
head and neck behind. Total length, 13.12 to 18 inches; wing, 8| to 9; extent, 28 to 31; tail, 3£; bill to gape, 3J; tarsus, 3£ 
inches. 
Hob .—All of temperate North America; Florida, (Mr. Wiirdemann.) 
During my residence in the northwest I obtained but one specimen of the American avoset, 
which was afterwards, unfortunately, lost on its way to Washington. This bird appeared to 
be a straggler, and was shot near Fort Walla-Walla, where it excited a good deal of surprise 
among some of the older settlers and traders, to all of whom it was new. In western Minne¬ 
sota, on the contrary, it is very abundant, especially in the saline region along the tributary 
streams of the Shayenne river and among the salt lakes and pools of the Grande Coteau. 
There, where I had a good opportunity of studying their habits, I found that they appeared 
equally fond of the margins of running brooks and the edges of stagnant pools; partly resembling 
ducks in swimming well upon the surface of the water, and partly the Totani in running along 
the shore and in wading into the water in search of food. They were very unsophisticated, 
allowing a near approach, and were but little disturbed by the report of a gun. When alarmed 
at all, they manifested it much as curlews and willets do, by circling around the intruder, flying 
backwards and forwards, all the while vociferating loudly. At such times, like the birds men¬ 
tioned, they can be “tolled” towards the shooter by whistling in imitation of their cry. I 
have seen a specimen of the avoset in the San Francisco Academy’s museum, which had been 
obtained in California. It is not a common bird in Oregon, the one received being the only 
specimen I ever heard of in the Territory. In the Salt Lake region they are not uncommon, 
(vide Stansbury’s Report,) and this, added to the fact of their great abundance among the salt 
lakes of western Minnesota, (the present Territory of Dacotah,) seems to indicate a decided 
preference for such food as is found only in salt and brackish water. My Oregon specimen was 
much darker than any obtained in Minnesota, a reddish cinnamon tinge being very strongly 
marked upon the neck. Although I shot many individuals in western Minnesota, I never saw 
one among them so darkly tinged as the Oregon specimen. 
Nuttall says, in a note: “A second species, with a white instead of a rufous neck, head, and 
breast, and very nearly allied, if not identic, with the European or Oriental avoset, was shot 
near to the Great Northern Bend of the Missouri, and is now, I believe, in the extensive 
museum of the Right Honorable Lord Stanley, at Knowsley Hall.”—Nuttall’s Manual, 1st ed. 
Water Birds, p. 77. 
The Great Bend of the Misiouri , it should be remembered, is very near to the saline region 
of Dacotah. Probably, however, this bird was simply a specimen of the present species in 
immature plumage, unless we differ from Mr. Cassin, and admit the existence of JR. occidentals 
as a distinct species.—S. 
Common on the Platte river, Nebraska, where I obtained, in August, two specimens, having 
characters intermediate between B. americana and B. occidentals. Never seen by me on the 
west coast.—C. 
