1/6 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Newton, Zool., 1884, p. 196. The provincial name, 

 Olive, applied to this bird by Albin, is still in use 

 with the fishermen on the coast of Sussex. 



Fam. SCOLOPACIDtE. 



AVOCET. Recurvirostra avocetta, Linnaeus. PL 20, 

 figs. 10, 10a. Length, 16 in. ; bill, 3-25 in. ; wing, 85 

 in. ; bare part of tibia, 1-8 in. ; tarsus, 3 in. 



Formerly a regular, now an occasional summer 

 visitant. The neighbourhood of Rye in Sussex,^ 

 Romney Marsh in Kent, Salthouse in Norfolk, West 

 Fen and Fossdyke Wash in Lincolnshire are upon 

 record as former breeding-places. To these localities 

 may be added Winterton and Horsey in Norfolk, the 

 neighbourhood of the Seven-Mile-House on the 

 Bure, near Yarmouth (Stevenson, " Birds of Nor- 

 folk," ii. p. 238), and the mere-lands at Thorpe, 

 near Aldeburgh (Hele, " Notes about Aldeburgh," 

 p. 120); also near Orfordness (Trans. No7'/. Nat. 

 Soc, vol. iii. p. 258). 



The occasional appearance of this bird in spring 

 and autumn in the marshes on the coast of Essex 

 is noted by Mr. Christy in his volume on the birds 

 of that county. 



According to Dr. Moore, the Avocet was formerly 



^ " That it breeds here," says Markwick, " I have been an eye-witness, 

 for I found in the marshes near Rye a young one of this species which 

 appeared to have been just hatched, and I took it up in my hand 

 whilst the old birds kept flying round me." — Aves Sussexienses, 1795, 

 p. 27. 



