74 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



Avocets was situated at Salthouse in the Fen 

 Country, but this was destroyed between the years 

 1822-25. It is recorded that the eggs were 

 gathered from this colony to make puddings, and 

 the poor birds destroyed for the sake of their 

 feathers, which were used to make artificial flies ! 

 The drainage and enclosure of marsh land may 

 have restricted the haunts of the Avocet ; but 

 experience has shown that a species is not readily 

 extirpated by such means. To our lasting shame, 

 we must attribute its extinction to the senseless 

 persecution of the birds by man, and to the whole- 

 sale taking of their eggs, scientific collectors being 

 to some extent responsible for the calamity. 

 Parties of Avocets on migration still continue to 

 visit East Anglia, especially in spring ; but there is 

 every reason to believe that these arrivals are not 

 attempting to recolonise the deserted haunts, and 

 whether the birds are captured or not is quite 

 immaterial. We may rest assured that the bird as 

 a breeding species is lost to us for all time. The 

 fate of the British Avocets, however, might well 

 serve as a warning in Denmark and Holland, where 

 the bird is fast becoming rarer, and may eventually 

 become extinct if measures for its protection are 

 not taken in time. 



