AVOCET. 303 



white bead and black tail, restricted, apparently, to tbe 

 bigb lakes (1G,000 feet) in tbe Andes; and R. novce- 

 liollandue, of Australia and New Zealand, wbicb bas tbe 

 bead, tbroat, and cbest of a deep cbestnut-red."^ 



Tbe eggs, wbicb are laid in a sligbt bollow scratched in 

 tbe bare ground, with little or no lining, f are generally 

 deposited in tbe month of May, and are, as a rule, three or 

 four in number ; five have been found, probably tbe united 

 produce of two females. In colour they are clay-buff, 

 blotched and spotted with black, and measure about 2 in. 

 by 1'5 in. Naumann says that incubation, in which both 

 sexes take part, lasts seventeen or eighteen days. It has 

 been suggested by Mr. Harting (Ibis, 1874, p. 248) that 

 Avocets feed their nestlings as Puffins do, by bringing food 

 crosswise in their bills, and laying tbe latter close alongside 

 tbe open mandibles of tbe young, allowing them to snatch 

 tbe food sideways. 



Tbe food of tbe Avocet consists of worms, aquatic insects, 

 and the thinner-skinned crustaceous animals, which these 

 birds search for on soft mud and sand. Tbe peculiar marks 

 made by tbe singular form of the beaks of these birds in 

 tbe sand while searching for food with tbe convex side, are 

 recognizable, while their stooping mode of action, and tbe 

 character of tbe beak itself, have induced the provincial 

 names of Scooper and Cobbler's-awl Duck. Tbe usual note 

 is a clear kuitt. 



The specimen from wbicb the figure and description here 

 inserted were taken, was obtained in tbe London market in 

 the spring of 1814. The beak, black, about three inches 



* For an interesting monograph of this genus, see J. E. Harting, ' The Ibis,' 

 1874, pp. 242-261. 



t Dr. CuUen says that he found nests of this Bpecies at Kustendjc which 

 were built up of straws and stems to the height of six or eight inches ; and he 

 goes on to state that tlie downy nestling has the bill quite straight ; but this is 

 an error, for in specimens only a day or two old the bills are distinctly curved. 

 The IJlack-winged Stilt, however, also breeds at Kustendje, and was recently 

 (June, 188:3) found there by Messrs. Seebohm and Young, with nests raised as 

 described ; and in this latter species the bill of the nestling is, naturally, 

 straight. It seems, therefore, possible that there may have been a mistake in 

 the identification of the nest-building specie.s. 



