72 BIRDS. 
departing further south later in the autumn. The few re- 
maining to pass the winter are joined in May by large flocks 
from the south, and leave along with them before the end 
of the month. For the last two years I have noted that 
about a score of non-breeding birds remain at Spurn 
throughout the summer. 
236. Heematopus ostralegus Z. Oystercatcher. 
Winter visitant to the coast, local; common in some locali- 
ties, scarce in others. Occasionally frequents inland reser- 
voirs. Sometimes observed on the coast as early as July, 
remaining till spring. 
Fam. SCOLOPACIDZ. 
287. Recurvirostra avocetta Z. Avocet. 
Accidental visitant from continental Europe, of extremely 
rare occurrence. 
Skipwith Common, two killed about 1824; one of them in 
the York Museum (Allis). 
Spurn Point: Mr. Arthur Strickland informed Mr. Allis, in 
1844, that he had known several to occur near the Spurn 
Lighthouse in spring some years before, but that he had 
heard of no recent occurrence. 
Tees mouth, one shot in the winter of 1827-8 near the Tees 
(Hogg, Zool., 1845, p. 1172), a locality from which Mr. 
J.. H.' Gumey,, jun, (Zool., '1876,.p. 4765), reeords ataas 
having occurred twice or three times. 
The last instance in which the Avocet is known to have 
nested in Britain, was at the mouth of the Trent, about the 
year 1840. Mr. Hugh Reid, of Doncaster, informed Mr. 
A. G. More, in a letter dated June 1st, 1861, that eggs 
were taken on a sand island at the mouth of the river 
Trent about twenty years before. There was at the time 
a spring tide, which nearly covered the island, and the 
eggs were floating on the water. The man who took them 
shot one of the parent birds at the same time, and brought 
the eggs to Mr. Reid. The island had patches of grass 
growing on it, and there was always mud and warp about 
it—a likely place for the bird to feed on. The county 
boundary being at this place drawn in the centre of the 
