558 SCOLOPACID.E. 



yet it is said to breed in Holstein, and the eggs are occasion- 

 ally brought to this country for sale by dealers from Ham- 

 burgh. M. Temminck says that the Avocet is abundant in 

 the North of Holland, but is more rare on the coast, and is 

 seen at the periods of its migrations in Provence, Switzerland, 

 and Italy. It probably inhabits great part of Africa, since 

 Dr. Andrew Smith has found it as far south as the Cape of 

 Good Hope ; it is found also in Egypt and at SmjTna. M. 

 Hohenacker includes it among the birds seen between the 

 Black and the Caspian Seas ; and Mr. Selby mentions as a 

 locality for it the salt lakes of Tartary. Mr. Gould says our 

 bird is also found in India. 



The specimen from which the figure and description here 

 inserted were taken, was obtained in the London market in 

 the spring of 1814. The beak black, about three inches and 

 a half in length, has very much the appearance of two thin 

 flat pieces of whalebone coming to a point and curving up- 

 wards ; the irides reddish brown ; top of the head, occiput, 

 nape, and back of the neck, black ; interscapulars and upper 

 part of the back, white ; scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and 

 the wing-primaries, black ; all the other parts of the plumage 

 pure white ; legs and toes pale blue. 



The whole length nearly eighteen inches. From the carpal 

 joint to the end of the wing eight inches and a half; the first 

 quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



In young birds of the year the dark-coloured parts of the 

 plumage are tinged with brown ; the scapulars edged with 

 reddish brown. During the second year, till the autumn 

 moult, some of the elongated dark feathers are still reddish 

 brown at the end. 



