RECUR VIROSTRA. CHARADRIUS. 241 



Kecurvirostra avocetta. AVOCET. 



Recurvirostra avosetta Lmnceus, Syst. Nat. i. 1758, 

 p. 151 : Sweden. 



Keeurvirostra avocetta Linn. ; B. O. II. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 162 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. 31. xxiv. 1896, p. 326; Saunders, 

 Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 561. 



Avocetta, the Italian name, said to be connected with avis = a bird. 



Distribution in the British Islands. Formerly a regular 

 summer visitor which bred in the eastern and south-eastern 

 counties from Lincolnshire to Sussex until about 1842. It is 

 still a tolerably regular Spring Visitor and of irregular occur- 

 rence in autumn in Norfolk, Kent, and Sussex, and might 

 nest there again if unmolested. Elsewhere it is a rare visitor 

 to Great Britain. In Ireland it has been obtained or 

 seen about twenty times, chiefly on the south and east 

 coasts. 



General Distribution. The Avocet breeds in Europe in suit- 

 able localities in Denmark, Holland, the Spanish Peninsula, 

 southern France, and Sardinia, eastwards in Hungary and 

 on the shores of the Black, Caspian, and Aral seas, through 

 the Kirghiz Steppes and Turkestan to the Upper Yenesei to 

 54 N. latitude, and Jransbaikalia. Southwards it nests in 

 Africa, locally south to (Jape Colony, and occurs in Mada- 

 gascar. It is migratory in the northern parts of its range 

 and in winter visits India, Ceylon, and China. 



Subfamily CHARADRIIN^. 



Genus CHAEADRIUS Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 150. 

 Type : C. apricarius Linn. 



Charadnus = xa/oa^pio's, in classical Greek, a bird dwelling in clefts or 

 river- valley s, x a P^P ai - The sight of it was held to be a cure for the 

 jaundice. 



B 



