AVOCET. 673 



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 of them there at present ; they are also rare now 

 in Norfolk. The authors of the Catalogue of Norfolk 

 and Suffolk Birds, say that "during the breeding season the 

 Avocet used to frequent the marshes at Winterton ; and in 

 the summer of 1816 we saw one there which had young. 

 This bird made several circles round us, uttering a shrill 

 note, and then alighted in the middle of a pool of water, 

 on which it floated ; then took several turns on wing, and 

 again alighted on the water, where it sat motionless." The 

 bill of the Avocet is so flexible that it is totally unfit for 

 a weapon of offence, and the bird itself has a peculiarly 

 harmless and meek appearance. 



W. R. Fisher, Esq. has recorded the occurrence of three 

 specimens of the Avocet in the neighbourhood of the 

 Broads near Yarmouth, in Norfolk, in 1842 and 1843 ; and 

 in reference to these Broads the Rev. Mr. Lubbock says, 

 "At the beginning of the present century, the Avocet used 

 to breed constantly and in considerable numbers at Horsey, 

 but has not done so of late years. On the authority of an 

 old and respectable fen-man, it bred regularly forty years 

 ago near the seven mile-house on the North River ; and 

 occurs still sometimes upon Breedon. The last I know 

 of positively in the fens, was a small flock which visited 

 Sutton Broad in 1828. They used formerly to breed at 

 Salthouse, near Holt, but are now extinct there; they 

 were much harassed, as their feathers are valuable to make 

 artificial flies with." 



A. E. Knox, Esq., of New Grove, Petworth, says, that 

 "At a late period a flock of five Avocets were seen at Pag- 

 ham Harbour, about six miles from Chichester. They were 

 particularly tame ; when fired at, two were killed and one 



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