THE AVOCET 417 



would come flying close overhead, so that the veriest tyro could easily 

 kill as many as he wanted. The habit of breeding in colonies was also 

 a disadvantage when brought into contact with man, and the avocet 

 has none of the art of the redshank in concealing its nest, so that 

 by the beginning of the nineteenth century it was already rapidly 

 decreasing, and a quarter of a century later had entirely disappeared 

 from Norfolk. 



Few birds present a more attractive appearance than the avocet. 

 The snowy white and jet black of the plumage, always looking clean 

 and bright, the graceful movements, the confiding habits and the 

 quaint actions of the bird, all combine to make it an object of the 

 greatest interest to every naturalist. 



Although the few birds which stray to us are perforce shy, and 

 soon learn that there is no safety for them except when out of gunshot, 

 I have always found the avocet naturally a tame and even confiding 

 species. In Middle Europe the colonies are composed of summer 

 residents which probably winter in Africa, and cross the Straits of 

 Gibraltar from March to May in small flights. By the end of March or 

 early in April these flocks have reached Holland, while they appear in 

 Jylland about a fortnight later, and soon settle down to breed. Very 

 little has been recorded of their courting actions, but Naumann says 

 that the complaining melancholy " Tliuh " is the pairing cry or song 

 of the male, and is uttered on the wing as he sweeps over the breeding- 

 ground. One action which may be observed not infrequently, is the 

 pattering run of male and female after one another, with lowered 

 head and excited demeanour, after pairing, which apparently forms 

 part of the ritual of the act. 



Shallow water, about six inches deep, is the favourite feeding- 

 ground of the avocet. As a rule the breeding-ground is not far from 

 water of this kind, and as we draw near to the water side two birds 

 pass us, flying in line, one in front of the other, with their long blue- 

 grey legs trailing behind, and the black triangular patches and bars 

 on the wings standing out boldly against the white. The extraordinary 



