AVOCET. 301 



Rising informed Mr. Stevenson (B. of Norfolk, ii. p. 238), 

 Avocets continued to breed until 1819, and perhaps a year 

 or two later ; and at Salthouse, where they were known as 

 " Clinkers," they do not appear to have become extinct 

 until 1822 to 1825. Since that period they have occurred 

 at irregular intervals, mostly in May and June, and occa- 

 sionally in autumn ; but any hope of the re-establishment 

 of the species as a breeder has been promptly frustrated 

 by the gun of the local collector ; the value of a British- 

 killed specimen being far greater than the amount of any 

 fine imposed on conviction under the Wild Birds' Preserva- 

 tion Act. In Suffolk it used to breed near Aldborough, 



Romney Marsh, in Kent, was also a breeding-place of the 

 Avocet in former years ; and Markwick, in his Catalogue of 

 the Birds of Sussex, printed in 1795, says, "This bird is 

 not uncommon on our sea-coast in summer ; but whether it 

 is to be found here in winter I cannot tell, as I do not re- 

 collect to have ever seen it at that season. That it breeds 

 here I have been an eye-witness, for I remember that several 

 years ago, I found in the marshes near Rye a young one of 

 this species, which appeared to have been just hatched, and 

 I took it up in my hands, whilst the old birds kept flying 

 round me. I have also seen it in the summer on the sea- 

 coast at Bexhill." Since that date the species has passed 

 into the category of visitants to that county, and Mr. A. 

 E. Knox says it is of rare occurrence there, sometimes in 

 small flocks, but generally alone. 



The Avocet has been noticed several times in Cornwall, 

 Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, and 

 some other counties, becoming rarer towards the north. 

 Mr. Cordeaux informs the Editor that he has only seen it 

 once on the Humber flats since 1872. It has occurred two 

 or three times at Teesmouth ; once at Hartley in Durham ; 

 and, in Scotland, in Aberdeen and Fifeshire. It has also 

 been obtained at Stornoway, in the island of Lewis ; in the 

 Orkneys ; and once, by Dr. Saxby, at Uyea Sound, Shetland, 

 on the 4th March, 1871. 



In Ireland, according to Thompson, it is a very rare 



