74 BRITISH BIRDS. 



HIMANTOPUS AVOCETTA. 



AVOCET. 



(PLATE 24.) 



Avocetta avocetta, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 538, pi. 48. fig. 2 (1760). 



Recurvirostra avocetta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 256 (1766) ; et auctorum pluri- 



morum Naumann, Temminck, Schlec/el, Cabanis, Saunders, &c. 

 Scolopax avocetta (Uriss.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 92 (1769). 

 Avocetta europaea, Dumont, Diet. Sc. Nat. iii. p. 339 (1816). 

 Recurvirostra sinensis, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1867, p. 401. 



At the commencement of .the present century the Avocet was a well- 

 known and common summer visitor to the low-lying eastern counties of 

 England; but now, owing to the drainage of its favourite fens and the 

 reclamation of its chosen marshes, it is only known as a straggler on 

 migration. At irregular intervals a few Avocets appear in spring, less 

 frequently in autumn, at what was formerly their breeding-grounds ; but 

 they are remorselessly shot down by collectors of rare birds. There is no 

 reliable evidence that the Avocet has bred in our islands for the past sixty 

 years. Its breeding-haunts were apparently confined to the marshes of 

 Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Romney Marsh in Kent. To the rest 

 of England the Avocet was, and is, only known as an accidental straggler, 

 becoming much rarer in the north. Only about half a dozen specimens 

 have been recorded from Scotland, where it has been met with as far north 

 as the Shetlands, and as far west as Stornoway, in the Outer Hebrides. 

 In Ireland it is equally scarce, being only known as an extremely rare 

 straggler. 



The increase of population and the drainage of marshes have restricted 

 the breeding-places of the Avocet in Europe to the islands off the coast of 

 Denmark and Holland, the marshes of Southern Spain, the delta of the 

 Rhone, and the lagoons on the shores of the Black Sea. To Southern 

 Scandinavia and the rest of Central and Southern Europe, with the excep- 

 tion above mentioned, the Avocet has become, as it is in our islands, only 

 an accidental visitor ; but further east it is more abundant, breeding in 

 Palestine and Persia, where it is a resident, and in North Turkestan, the 

 extreme south-west of Siberia, South-east Mongolia, and South Dauria, 

 where it is a summer visitor, wintering in China, Formosa, Hainan, India, 

 and occasionally Ceylon. It has been recorded from the main island of 

 Japan. In Asia Minor it is principally known on passage, though a few 

 are said to remain during the winter ; and it is said to breed throughout 

 Africa in suitable localities. 



The Avocet has no very near ally, and may always be known by its 



