414 THE AVOCET 



2. Distribution. Formerly this species bred in large colonies in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, Lincolnshire and the Humber district, as well as on the Kent and 

 Sussex coasts. In Norfolk they survived to about 1820-24. On the Continent of 

 Europe the nearest breeding-places to us are in Holland and on the island of Texel. 

 Other breeding-places in Europe are the government reserves in the Ringkj0bing 

 Fjord, Denmark, formerly but not now on the Frisian Isles and the Baltic south 

 coast, except on the Werder Isles, near Riigen ; the Camargue in South France, 

 South Spain and Portugal, Sardinia, possibly Sicily, Macedonia, the Lower Danube 

 and the Dobrogea, Hungary, the Kirghiz steppes, the Volga estuary, and the 

 Astrakhan government to lat. 49. In Africa it breeds in Algeria and probably in 

 Egypt, as well as in many other localities, and is said to breed south to Damaraland 

 and Cape Colony. In Asia its range extends from Asia Minor and the shores of 

 the Black, Aral, and Caspian Seas, east to the Yenisei (lat. 54), Dauria, and 

 the Hoang-ho valley. Only northern breeding birds are migratory, the Central 

 European birds probably wintering in the Mediterranean district and North Africa, 

 and Asiatic birds migrating to the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Malay 

 Peninsula. [F. c. B. j.] 



3. Migration. A bird of passage in small numbers, mainly to the south 

 and east coasts of England ; formerly also a summer visitant and British breeding 

 species. The migrants that now visit our shores are presumably on their way to 

 and from the colonies in W. Jylland and N. Holland. Stragglers have occurred in 

 the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Outer Hebrides. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The breeding-grounds of this species lie in the level 

 expanses of mud flats, sandy islets, and low-lying meadows about the estuaries of 

 great rivers or near the sea. Where undisturbed they nest in colonies, and occasion- 

 ally the nests may be found quite close together, but they are usually a yard or two 

 at least from one another and often much more. The nesting-sites vary according 



".:to the. locali%; Some are not unlike lapwings' nests, made of a few dead stalks 

 . . aind ijejjjbs in .a- hollow in the short grass ; others are placed in tussocks of grass 

 : 'standing 'in ; sh'aD6w water, in a hoof -mark or hollow in sandy mud, or partly con- 

 cealed in the coarse herbage growing by the side of a narrow drain, and in the 

 Black Sea on shingle-banks and sandy islets. As a rule there is little concealment 

 about the nest, and in some cases there is no lining whatever, though this is not 

 usually the case, and feathers, rushes, and even bits of driftwood are sometimes 

 used. (Pl.Liv.) The share of the parents in building is not recorded. The eggs 

 are 3 or 4 in number, while clutches of 5 have rarely been met with. They are not 



