146 HABITS OF THE AVOCET. 



soft bottom always makes runs ; and as the flood ebbs off", those runs flow with a 

 considerable portion of the mud and its animal contents. Those contents, espe- 

 cially if land-produce, and near the sea, would be lost to Nature, were it not that 

 the Avocet is sent to gather them in. It takes its position at the bottom of the 

 run, and, lowering its bill, with the foot on one side advanced, it brings up the 

 other foot and at the same time scoops obliquely across the run with the bill. 

 When the foot which has made the advance is planted, the bill is elevated, so 

 that even the basal part of it inclines upwards, and the food obtained during the 

 stroke is conveyed to the stomach. This requires hardly a moment, and the bill 

 is again depressed ; the other foot, which is now in the rear, advances ; and the 

 run is scooped obliquely in the opposite direction. Thus it proceeds with stately 

 steps, and scooping right and left alternately, until it has satisfied its appetite. It 

 is no very easy matter to see the Avocet engaged in this way ; but those who are 

 in the habit of examining the fenny places which it frequents, can see the 

 marks of the scooping and the footsteps so plainly, as to leave no doubt of the 

 mode of action in the bird. 



Avocets breed on the borders of the marshes, and are understood to have four 

 eggs in a hatch, which, as is common with those birds which they most nearly 

 resemble, are placed quatrefol, with the small ends to the centre. Generally 

 speaking, they are very shy birds, and their voices are harsh and screaming ; but 

 when they have nests, they become apparently familiar, and^their scream is a mix- 

 ture of the querulous and the plaintive. They, in short, play tricks very similar 

 to those of the Lapwing, in order to entice visitors from their nests, but they are 

 not quite such expert flyers. 



In Norfolk, and the few other places in which the Avocets are found, they are 

 resident birds ; and not very many years ago, they were frequently exhibited for 

 sale, though not abundantly, in Leadenhall-market, which, in London, is the chief 

 place for marsh-birds ; but at present not above one or two are to be met with in 

 the course of a whole season. 



There is an Avocet, in India, wholly white, except the wings ; and an Ameri- 

 can one has been described, with a purplish mantle on the lower part of the neck ; 

 but, in other respects, they do not appear to differ from the Avocet of which a 

 remnant still lingers in this country. 



QThe Avocet belongs to the fourth order of birds, the Waders (Grallatores), 

 and to. the third family of that order, namely, the Snipe family, Scolopacidce. — 

 Ed.] 



