556 SCOLOPACIDE. 



long. Legs slender, long, great portion of tlie tibia naked ; three toes in front, 

 hind toe small, articulated high up on the tarsus, the anterior toes united as far 

 as the second articulation, by a membrane, the margin of which is concave. 

 Wings pointed ; the first -quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



The Avocet is certainly a singular looking bird ; both in 

 reference to its beak as well as its feet ; but it is also as 

 handsome as it is singular. The beak is curved upwards, is 

 slender, pointed and flexible, having very much the appear- 

 ance of a thin piece of elastic whalebone, and is, to the bird, 

 I have no doubt, a delicate organ of touch ; while the semi- 

 palmatcd feet seem only intended to support the bird on soft 

 mud, as it never attempts to paddle or swim when out of its 

 depth, but allows itself to float along motionless. This bird 

 is apparently more rare now than formerly. Sir Thomas 

 Browne says they were not uncommon in his time in the 

 marshy lands of Norfolk, and some years ago I was told that 

 more than twenty specimens were received at Leadenhall mar- 

 ket for sale within one month ; but noAv scarcely an example 

 appears once in a year : the last I heard of was in the spring 

 of 1837. 



Mr. Thompson says it is a very rare visiter to Ireland ; 

 one or two have been killed in Cornwall, and they were no- 

 ticed formerly in Gloucestershire and in Shropshire. Four 

 are recorded as having been obtained in Devonshire ; one or 

 two in Dorsetshire. Mr. Markwick, in his catalogue of the 

 Birds of Sussex, printed in 1795, says, this bird is not un- 

 common on our sea-coast in summer ; but whether it is to 

 be found here in winter I cannot tell, as I do not recollect 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. 



They formerly visited Romney Marsh, but I find no record 



I 



