AVOCET 



341 



depth they can swim off easily. Chapman (1912, p. 242) thus describes 

 their feeding when in the water : " . . . Their peculiar recurved bill is 

 used in a most interesting manner. Dropping it beneath the surface 

 of the water until its convexity touches the bottom, they move rapidly 

 forward, and with every step swing their bill from side to side, as 

 a mower doi^s his scythe. In this way they secure food which the 

 muddy water would prevent them from seeing." When the water 

 is deep they immerse the whole head and neck under the surface. 

 Coues (1874, p. 461) describes the actions of the birds as follows: 



When approached too close- 

 ly, they rose lightly from the 

 water, uttering their peculiar 

 cries, flapped leisurely to a lit- 

 tle distance, and again alighted 

 to pursue their peaceful search 

 for food, forgetting, or at 

 least not heeding, their recent 

 alarm. As they rose from the 

 water, their singular, long legs 

 were suffered to dangle for a 

 few moments, but were after- 

 wards stretched stiffly back- 

 wards, as a counterpoise to 

 their long necks. . . . When 

 about to re-alight, they sailed 

 without flapping for a little dis- 

 tance, just clearing the water, 

 their legs again hanging loose- 

 ly; as they touched the ground, 

 their long wings were held al- 

 most upright for an instant, 

 then deliberately folded and 

 settled in place Avith a few 

 slight 'motions. 



Fig. 61. Top of foot of Avocet. Natural 

 size. 



Note extensive webs between bases of front 

 toes and presence of small hind toe (compare 

 with fig. 63). 



H. C. Bryant (MS) states that he has seen the Avocet alight from 

 the wing in deep water. 



During the breeding season, if the vicinity of a nesting colony is 

 approached, the birds often fly to meet the intruder at a considerable 

 distance from the nests. Chapman (1908, pp. 288, 289) says of the 

 birds at Los Banos: "The Avocets were scarcely less demonstrative 

 [than the Stilts], but their method of defending their eggs or young 

 was less by the strategy of actions to make themselves the center of 

 attraction, than by the most reckless attempts to drive the intruder 

 from the field. Rapidly uttering their loud plee-eek, they charged one 

 with a directness and apparent determination which threatened to 

 drive their needle-pointed bill in to the base, swerving to right or left 

 when only a few feet away, and repeating the performance almost im- 



