246 Mr. J. E. Harting on rare 



Hah. Europe from 60° N. lat. to the Mediterranean ; Asia 

 from Siberia to Cochin China and Ceylon ; Africa to the 

 Cape. 



Diagn. R. alba ; pileo, collo postico, scapularibus ex parte, 

 tectricibus alarum, et remigibus primariis nigris ; rostro ni- 

 gro ; iride rufescenti-fusca ; pedibus cseruleis ; long. tot. circa 

 17-5 poll., rostr. 3-2-3-5, al^ 8-5-90, tib. nud. 1-5-1-75, 

 tars. 3-3'4, dig. med. cum ung. 1-5-1 •75. 



From what has been said above, it will be seen that this species 

 has a very extensive geographical range, more so, in fact, than 

 any other of the genus. In Europe it is pretty generally distri- 

 buted but is not found very far north, perhaps not further 

 than the 60th parallel of N. latitude, although breeding in 

 Denmark, the Isle of Sylt, Schleswig Holstein, and the north 

 of Germany and Holland. It was formerly a regular sum- 

 mer visitant to England ; but the general cultivation of waste 

 lands, and the drainage of extensive pieces of water (the 

 natural consequence of an increasing population and an im- 

 proved system of agricultiu'e) , have gradually banished it from 

 its former haunts. The neighbourhood of Rye, in Sussex, 

 Romney Marsh, in Kent, Salthouse, in Norfolk, and Foss- 

 dyke Wash and West Fen, in Lincolnshire, are upon record 

 as former breeding-places ; and to these might be added Win- 

 terton and Horsey in Norfolk, the neighbourhood of the 

 Seven-Mile House, on the river Bure, near Yarmouth, and 

 the Mere-lands at Thorpe, near Aide burgh. In Scotland and 

 Ireland the Avocet is regarded as an extremely rare bird. It 

 has occurred accidentally as far north as Orkney, and as far 

 to the south and west as Cork Harbour ; but these must be 

 considered quite exceptional instances. On the opposite 

 shores of Holland, where I have had opportunities of seeing 

 this singular bird alive and watching its graceful movements, 

 large tracts of unreclaimed marsh and ooze stiU afford it a 

 secure retreat, whilst the veto which is placed upon shooting 

 during the nesting-season in that country enables it to rear 

 its young in many places with more or less freedom from 

 molestation. 



In some of the marshy plains of Southern Spain the Avocet 



