174 AYOCET. 



Croxby Lake, Lincolnshire, as the Rev. R. P. Alington has 

 informed me, by the late Theophilus Harneis, Esq., of Thor- 

 ganby Hall. In Cornwall, two have been killed at Swanpool, 

 near Faltnouth, one of them in November, 1845; others 

 iormerly have been noticed in Gloucestershire and Shropshire. 



In Sussex, Markwick says that it was not uncommon in 

 his time, 1795, on the coast in summer; and he met with 

 a pair which had young, in a marsh near Eye. It also 

 visited the shore at Bexhill, A. T. Dodd, Esq., of Chichester, 

 saw a flock of five at Pagham Harbour, near there, and 

 procured three of them. In Surrey, one at Godalming is 

 recorded. In Kent, Romney Marsh used to be a locality 

 for it there; and the muddy flats at the mouth of the Thames, 

 in that county, and 'over the water' in Essex. In the 

 former-named a nest of young ones was found in 1842, by 

 Mr. Plomley, and two young ones procured the following 

 year; one was shot at Sandwich, the 22nd. of April, 1849. 

 Donovan mentions that they were formerly common in the 

 Cambridgeshire Fens. In Devonshire, one was obtained near 

 Plymouth, in November, 1854, as John Gatcombe, Esq. has 

 been kind enough to send me word. 



In Ireland, as stated by the late William Thompson, Esq., 

 of Belfast, it is a very rare visitor. 



In Scotland, it is in like manner an occasional straggler. 

 In Orkney, it is stated by Edmonston to have occurred. 



The mouth of the Severn, in Gloucestershire, is given as 

 another of its 'quondam' localities; also Shropshire, Fossdike, 

 in Lincolnshire, and the Dorsetshire coast. 



It is of migratory habits, arriving in this country, that is, 

 when it does arrive for, though formerly a regular and fre- 

 quent visitor, it is not so now in the month of April; and 

 leaving again in September. Its migration is performed 

 during the night. 



It prefers muddy shores to those of a sandy or rocky kind ; 

 also salt marshes, to which it resorts while the tide covers 

 its other feeding-grounds, but leaves again for the latter when 

 it has ebbed sufficiently. The Avocet walks in an easy and 

 graceful manner, and is able also to run very fast; 'which,' 

 says Meyer, 'it does invariably close to the water's edge when 

 pursued, standing every now and then still, raising its head 

 sharply, and lowering it again, and at last, if the pursuit is 

 kept up, it flies up high in the air, and leaves the neigh- 

 bourhood. Swimming may also be ranked among its capacities, 



