306 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



mainly of shell-fish of various kinds, chiefly univalves, and to a cer- 

 tain extent, of marine plants. Oysters and the larger bivalves are 

 api^arently not often eaten by the bird. 



Family SCOLOPACID^. 



RECURYIROSTRA AVOCETTA, Linnaeus. 

 AVOCET. 



Recurvirostra avocetta, Linn. Stjst. Nat. i, p. 2oG (1766) ; Sharpc, 

 Cat. Binh Brit, il/zts. xxiv, p. 326 ; Malherhe, Cat. Bats. d'Ois. AUj. 

 p. 20 (1846) ; Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 287 (1867); Koenig, 

 J. f. 0. 1888, p. 283 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 94 ; Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1900, 

 p. "61. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



Crown, nape, upper neck, inner scapulars, inner secondaries, primaries, 

 and lesser and median wing-coverts black ; remainder of the plumage 

 above and below white ; bill long, very slender and curved upwards. 



Iris reddish-brown ; bill black ; feet pale blue. 



Total length 18 inches, wing 9, culmen 3-50, tarsus 3-70. 



Adult female resembles the male. 



In winter the white upper parts are tinged with grey. 



Although rather irregular in its occurrence, this graceful species 

 is not uncommon locally in Tunisia, and is apparently to be met with 

 in certain numbers throughout the entn-e year. It may be observed 

 sometimes on the shores of the Lake of Tunis, and examples of it 

 may frequently be found in the market of that town. 



Salvin states that he saw the species at Zana and Djendeli and 

 found it most numerous at Chott Saboun, the eastern extremity of 

 the marsh of Zana {Ibis, 1859, p. 359). 



According to Loche, the species is not numerous in Algeria, 

 though fairly generally distributed. It also occurs in Marocco, but 

 does not appear to have been met with except on passage. 



The Avocet is to be found in most parts of Central and Southern 

 Europe, as also, though less abundantly, in some parts of Northern 

 Europe, where it breeds in certain numbers. In the basin of the 

 Mediterranean it is partially resident, and in Southern Eussia it is 



