On the 16th of April 1837, my good friend Captain NAPOLEON COSTE, of the United States Revenue Cutter the Campbell, on board of which I then was, shot three individuals of this species on an immense sand-bar, intersected by pools, about twelve miles from Derniere Island on the Gulf of Mexico, and brought them to me in perfect order. They were larger, and perhaps handsomer, than any that I have seen; and had been killed out of a flock of five while feeding. He saw several large flocks on the same grounds, and assured me that the only note they emitted was a single whistle. He also observed their manner of feeding, which he represented as similar to that described above. My friend THOMAS NUTTALL says in a note, that he “found this species breeding on the islands of shallow ponds throughout the Rocky Mountains about midsummer. They exhibited great fear and clamour at the approach of the party, but no nests were found, they being then under march.” Dr RICHARDSON states, that it is abundant on the Saskatchewan Plains, where it frequents shallow lakes, and feeds on insects and small fresh water crustacea. The flight of the American Avoset resembles that of the _Himantopus nigricollis_. Both these birds pass through the air as if bent on removing to a great distance, much in the manner of the Tell-tale Godwit, or with an easy, rather swift and continued flight, the legs and neck fully extended. When plunging towards an intruder, it at times comes downwards, and passes by you, with the speed of an arrow from a bow, but usually in moving off again, it suffers its legs to hang considerably. I have never seen one of them exhibit the bending and tremulous motions of the legs spoken of by writers, even when raised suddenly from the nest; and I think that I am equally safe in saying, that the bill has never been drawn from a fresh specimen, or before it has undergone a curvature, which it does not shew when the bird is alive. The notes of this bird resemble the syllable _click_, sometimes repeated in a very hurried manner, especially under alarm. RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 787.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 394. AMERICAN AVOSET, RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 126, pl. 63, fig. 2. RECURVIROSTRA AMERICANA, _Richards. and Swains._, Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 375. AMERICAN AVOSET, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 74. Adult Male. Plate CCCXVIII. Fig. 1.