362 PARKING. 



spots, streaks, and blotches of black, blackish-brown and rich 

 umber-brown. They measure 1*64 inches in length by about 

 1-21 in breadth. 



GENUS, Recurvirostra, Lin. 



Bill very long, thin, flexible, Jburned up towards the tip, which 

 is very thin and pointed, channeled both above and below ; nos- 

 trils long linear ; wings long, pointed ; tail somewhat wedged ; 

 tarsi moderately long, and slender ; front toes united by a web, 

 which is notched in the middle ; hind- toe very minute ; nails 

 short, curved. 



Recurvirostra avocetta. Lin. 



899. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 786 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 18 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology 

 of Sind p. 258 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, 

 p. 134. 



THE AVOCET. 

 Length, 18 ; wing, 8'5 ; tail, 3 ; tarsus, 3'25 ; bill at front, 



Bill black ; irides red-brown ; legs pale bluish-grey. 



Crown of the head, nape, most of the hind-neck, scapulars, 

 lesser wing-coverts, and primary quills, deep black ; all the rest 

 of the plumage pure white. 



The Avocet is common during the winter in Sind, rare in 

 Guzerat, and does not occur at all in the Deccan. I have myself 

 seen it at Gungrar, near Neemuch, but it is very rare, 



TRIBE, Latitores. 



Feet very long ; antSBoTtoes 'usually free to the base, edged 

 by a web in a few ; hind-toe large ; beak usually short or moder- 

 ate, stout, compressed ; wing short or moderate, generally 

 armed with spurs or tubercles near the flexure ; tail generally 

 short. 



FAMILY, Parrida. 



JFeet enormous ; claws much lengthened ; bill moderate, com- 

 pressed ; wings spurred or tubercled. 



SUB-FAMILY, Parrinse. 



Of small or moderate size ; feet and claws enormously long, 

 thin. 



GENUS, Parra (METOPODIUS.) 



Bill moderate, stout, compressed, thick at the base ; culmen 

 curved at the tip ; forehead with a lappet of skin ; tail short ; 

 nostrils small, ovate, in the middle of the bill ; wings moderate or 

 short, second and third quills longest, first sub-equal, spurred at 

 the shoulder ; tarsus long ; feet enormous, the toes long and 

 thin, and the claws very long and pointed ; hind-claw especially 

 long. 



