SIX MONTHS BIRD COLLECTING IN EGYPT. 20I 



with a winged one. I ought to say that those in Damietta 

 were in flocks, but it is clear that they pair early. 



164. AVOCET, Reciirvirostra avocetta, Linn. ; R. halebi, 

 Brehni, ; " Hdlcbyr 



To have seen Avocets in a state of nature is alone enough 

 to repay me for the long journey to Egypt. My first 

 acquaintance with them was near Mansourah in the Delta 

 on the 1 8th of January. We had been successful in shoot- 

 ing three out of four Teal, and had walked on some way 

 when we came to a pond, the mud round which was so soft 

 for a considerable distance that it would not sustain the 

 weight of a boy. In this secure retreat were a magnificent 

 flock of Avocets, and a flock of Shoveller-Ducks. They 

 allowed us to come within seventy yards, and then the 

 Avocets rose first in a compact phalanx of white and black. 



On another occasion as we were returning from a village, 

 we saw six, high in the air, coming towards us from the 

 river, but they swerved before we could conceal ourselves. 

 I have one or two other entries of having seen them in the 

 Delta. When we went up the Nile we encountered Avocets 

 for some time after leaving Cairo, and I never could suffi- 

 ciently admire their gait, their re-curved bills, and their 

 black and white plumage. The last shot above Cairo was 

 on the 15th of March at Negardeh. It was in a state of 

 change. The new feathers which had just come being 

 pure black ; the old ones being dull brown. But the most 

 interesting fact in connection with the Avocet — Captain 

 Shelley having marked it as a winter visitant — was the dis- 

 covery by Mr. Russell of a colony at Mareotis on the 19th 

 of June, very tame, and apparently breeding.* 



'^ The Avocet is one of England's departed glories. " May 12th, 

 1839. A man of the name of Gaffer says the Avocet used to be very 



