Bird lore - Project Puffin

344 Bird - Lore
their heads to and fro sideways, while their bill is passing through the soft
mud; and in many instances, when the water was deeper, they would immerse
their whole head and a portion of the neck, as the Spoonbill and Red-breasted
Snipe are wont to do. When, on the contrary, they pursued aquatic insects,
such as swim on the surface, they ran after them, and, on getting up to them,
suddently seized them by thrusting the lower mandible beneath them, while
the other was raised a good way above the surface, much in the manner of
the Black Shear-water [Black Skimmer], which, however, performs this act
on wing. They were also expert at catching flying insects, after which they
ran with partially expanded wings.
NEST AND EGGS OF THE AVOCLl
Photographed by H. T. Bohlman and W. L. Finley
"I watched them as they were thus engaged about an hour, when they all
flew to the islets where the females were, emitting louder notes than usual.
The different pairs seemed to congratulate each other, using various curious
gestures; and presently those which had been sitting left the task to their
mates and betook themselves to the water, when they washed, shook their
wings and tafl, as if either heated, or tormented by insects, and then proceeded
to search for food in the manner above described. Now, reader, wait a few
moments until I eat my humble breakfast."
It is worth noting that the Avocets described by Audubon had their summer
home in Indiana. In the early part of the nineteenth century the species was
more or less common along the Atlantic coast. Alexander Wilson, the orni-
thologist, found them breeding on the salt marshes of New Jersey, and per-
haps southward.
In examining the published lists of birds for the various states east of the
Mississippi, it is quite common today to find mention made of these birds as