Bill short, conical, strong; nostrils basal, partially concealed; wing rather long; first, second, and third quills longest; tail moderate, or short, usually even at the end, or emarginate; legs and feet moderately strong; hind toe with the claw long, somewhat like that of the Larks (_Alauda_). Plectrophanes McCownii. Lawrence, Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, VI. p. 122. (1851.) Form. Bill very strong, wide, and somewhat tumid at base; wing long; secondaries emarginate; tertiaries longer than secondaries; second primary longest; tail rather short, slightly emarginate; legs moderate; hind claw long; coverts of the tail long. Dimensions. _Male._—Total length of skin, 5½ inches; wing, 3½; tail, 2¼ inches. Colors. _Male._—Head above, from the base of the bill, stripe on each side of the neck from lower mandible, and wide transverse band on the breast, black; lesser coverts of the wing chestnut; neck behind and body above dark brown and brownish-ashy, every feather with a central stripe of the former and edged with the latter; under-parts (except the breast) white, all the feathers, with a basal portion, ashy-black, particularly observable immediately below the black of the breast; quills brown, edged outwardly with yellowish cinereous, on their inner-webs with white; two central feathers of the tail brown, others white, tipped with brown; bill and feet light-colored. _Female._—Entire plumage above dark brown and brownish-ashy; beneath white, tinged with dull yellowish on the throat and breast; no black on the head or breast. Hab. California, New Mexico, Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington. Obs. This little species is strictly of the same group as _Plectrophanes ornatus_ and _pictus_, and, like them, appears to be exclusively western. It does not resemble those species in such degree as to be liable to be mistaken for either of them. The original description of this bird by Mr. Lawrence, as above cited, appears to have been made from its winter plumage. Its dedication to Capt. McCown, we regard as a highly appropriate acknowledgement of his valuable services in the investigation of the ornithology of the southwestern regions of the United States. RECURVIROSTRA OCCIDENTALIS.—Vigors. The Western Avocet. The White Avocet. PLATE XL. Adult Male.