248 Mr. J. E. Halting on rare 



must have some peculiar mode of supplying them with food. 

 Insectivorous birds^ as we know, feed their young by thrust- 

 ing their own bills into the open mouths of the nestlings, 

 while with Cormorants, as I have often observed, just the 

 reverse takes place, the bill, and even the entire head of the 

 youngster, sometimes disappearing in the capacious maw of 

 the attentive parent. But in the case of the Avocets, neither 

 of these modes can be adopted, owing to the peculiar curva- 

 ture of the bill, unless, indeed, that of the nestling is straight ; 

 and it seems equally clear that the extremities of the mandi- 

 bles are practically useless, since they are often so weak and 

 attenuated that they do not even close one upon the other. 

 I suspect it will be found that iVvocets feed their nestlings as 

 Puffins do ; that is to say, they bring small fish, thin-skinned 

 Crustacea, and worms crosswise in their bills, and laying the 

 latter close alongside the open mandibles of the young, allow 

 them to snatch the food sideways from them. 



The mode of feeding as observed in the case of adult birds 

 is as remarkable as it is difl:erent from that of the majority of 

 the Scolopacidse. Instead of boring into the soil, like the 

 true Snipes, or feeding from the surface with the extremity 

 of the bill, like the Sandpipers, the Avocet, resorting to the 

 soft ooze, upon w^hich it is well supported by its webbed 

 feet, places the flattened convex mandible upon the surface 

 of the mud, and by an alternating lateral motion of the 

 head, scoops its food sideways into the mouth. Some in- 

 teresting remarks on this subject, from the pen of Mr. A. E. 

 Knox, will be found in the ' Zoologist,^ vol i. p. 225. 



Its webbed feet enable the bird to swim well, not only 

 when wounded, and attempting to escape, but apparently 

 for diversion ; for a little flock of Avocets have been seen to 

 alight upon a salt-water pool, where the water was known to be 

 several feet deep ; and Mr. Swinhoe, when at Amoy, once saw 

 "a small group of pied birds floating in a clump ^^ on the Chang- 

 chow river, which subsequently proved to be Avocets*. On 

 the wing they are equally at home, flying well and rapidly, with 

 outstretched neck, while uttering a loud and tremulous note. 

 * Ibis, 1867, p. 400. 



