THE AVOCET. 95 



order that whatever food has been scooped up 

 by the bill may be conveyed to the mouth ; and that 

 part of the process is very soon over, as the curve of 

 the bill is not a portion of a circle, but of what the 

 geometers call the " curve of quickest descent." The 

 bill is immediately lowered with the point toward the 

 right, and the advance of the left foot and the swing 

 of the body upon the right make another sweep 

 in the opposite direction. In this way the bird ad- 

 vances up the run, scooping alternately left and right 

 with ease, with effect, and even with a grace almost 

 unparalleled in the action of birds. It is indeed one 

 of the most beautiful instances of animal mechanics 

 that can possibly be imagined, and the motions are so 

 performed that they can be all seen. Avocets are 

 restless and lively in their manners, more sportive 

 than most of the other fen birds. They have not 

 the hiding disposition of the snipes, nor the demure- 

 ness of the godwits; in some of their habits they more 

 resemble the lapwing, especially in the finesse shown 

 by the female to entice strangers away from her eggs 

 or young. She meets the traveller, and flies round 

 him in rapid circles, screaming " Quheet, quheet" but 

 aspirated in a manner that cannot be expressed by 

 letters. She also runs and limps and drops one 

 wing occasionally, as if it were broken ; but in her 

 evolutions upon the wing she does not give those 

 twitches in turning which are so striking in the 

 lapwing. 



The Rallidtz or Crakes are generally summer visi- 

 tors to the British Isles, and mostly breed in woods 

 in the neighbourhood of marshes or rivers. The 



