310 THE FEATHERED TKIBES. 



that the beaks of hawks and parrots, and the bills of raveus and bitterns, must be 

 cfRcieut instruments ; but the peculiar organisations with which the crossbill and the 

 avocet are furnished, are apt to strike us at first sight as awkward and ungainly. "When, 

 however, we come to study their application, we find that the real subject of our criticism 

 is our own ignorance, and that we pity or despise only because we do not understand ; 

 and that in everything which nature produces, be it single organ, entire animal, or what- 

 ever it may, we always must admire, and not admire only, but be delighted to the full 

 extent of our knowledge. The doctrine of opiimism, or ' all is best,' the sentence of 

 ap23robation which the Creator pronounced upon the new-made world, still holds true, 

 and will, amid all changes, hold true to the end, in all that creation, save the conduct of 

 man. Nor can it be otherwise ; because all else proceed \ipou the implanted instinct — 

 the very law and constitution of their nature, from which they can no more deviate than 

 lead can swiin or aii' sink in. water. But man, proceeding bj' reason, or which is the 

 same thing, by analogy or comi^arison, in which his own knowledge is always the 

 standard, cannot \vcll he right beyond the bounds of that loiowledgc, and may be wrong 

 within them. 



" It was always an interesting bird, from the peculiarities of its form and manners ; and 

 of late there is added to it the additional interest of comparative rarity as a British bird. 

 Ten or twelve j'ears ago, it was no uncommon occurrence to find a dozen of avocets in 

 Leadenhall IMarket in one week, or even all at once, ui the season of the fen-birds ; but 

 now there are only one or two in the course of the year. 



"As is the case with the other fen-birds, the avocet breeds in the herbage on the borders 

 of the fen ; but its fecding-gronnds, and also its mode of feeding, are pecvdiar. Tlie little 

 runs or water-courses, which cross the loose sand or sludge, and which always contain a 

 fonsiderable quantity of spawn, larva?, or other animal matters, according to the time of 

 the year, are the places which it frequents. It can swim, as indeed all birds that have 

 close plumage on the under part can do less or more ; but it perhaps does not swim 

 voluntarily in any instance, and it never swims when it is feeding. It is not adapted for 

 (hat, as the action of both the bodj^ and the biU require a fulcrum of something more 

 si able than water. Swimming in still water, the bird could not scoop, as the stroke of 

 tlio bill would merely drive the body backwards; and, as it feeds against the stream, its 

 moving would be lilce that of a man attempting to force a boat against the stream by 

 placing his pole upwards, and by that means adding his own exertion to the downward 

 ibrce of the current. 



" The avocet wades up tlic shallow stream, and, only tliat its strokes are equally 

 effective right and left, its action is not tinlike that of a mower. Its legs are long, and 

 placed far asunder, and it proceeds by long and slow strides. Suppose the foot on one 

 side advanced and planted, and the one on the other side in the rear to the full extent of 

 its stride : the axis of its body will in that position be obliqucl)^ across the rim, with the 

 head toward the side of the rear foot, and the tail to that of the advanced one, both feet 

 being nearly in the line of the centre of the run ; and if we suppose the left foot to be the 

 one in advance, the bill will be over the right side of the run. The bird then bends its 

 neck a little to tlic left and downwards, and immediately advancing the right foot, it swings 

 the body upon the left as a pivot, the bill scooping a transverse curve, and impelled by the 

 swing of the body. As soon as the right foot is planted, or rather contemporaneously 

 witli the planting of it, the bird elevates its bill, in order that whatever food has been 

 scooped up by the bill may be conveyed to the mouth ; and that part of the process is 

 very soon over, as the curve of thr bill is not a portion of a circle, but of what geometers 

 call tlie • curve of quickest descent.' The bill is immediately lowered with the point 

 toward the right, and the advance of the left foot, and the swing of the body upon tlie 

 right one, make another sweep in the opposite direction. Tu this way the bird advances 



