244 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



why they should not possess natatorial powers to a 

 certain extent. The eggs, generally two in number 

 but never more than three, are laid in a slight hollow 

 on the bare ground, or on a scanty lining of grasses, 

 and their method of procuring food has acquired for 

 this species the name of the '' scooping " avocet, as they 

 feed in line like mowers, leaving, as stated by Pennant, 

 *' alternate semicircular marks on the sand to mark 

 their progress ;" somewhat after the manner of the 

 spoonbill and greenshank, but with this exception, as 

 stated by Mr. Knox ("Zoologist," 1843, p. 227), "that 

 the avocet ploughs with the convexity of the bill." He 

 also states that a wounded bird, when turned loose in a 

 garden, exhibited the action of "ploughing or mowing 

 from right to left along the surface of the grass, or 

 rather brushing it from side to side." Their food is 

 said to consist of worms, insects^ and small thin-skinned 

 Crustacea. 



HIMANTOPUS MELANOPTERUS, Temm. 

 BLACK-WINGED STILT. 



This rare species has occurred in Norfolk, as an acci- 

 dental visitant, in several well authenticated instances ; 

 and I have, therefore, taken some pains to trace out the 

 history of such specimens as have been noticed from 

 time to time in our local records. 



Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear did not include this 

 bird in their "List," published in 1824; but in Mr. 

 Lombe's MS. notes, I find mention of one killed in 

 Northwold Fen, in June, 1822, on the western side of 

 the county; and a pair are stated by Messrs. Paget to 

 have been shot on Hickling Broad during the same 



