198 Order XIII 



swampy ground from the Humber to Suffolk, in Kent 

 and in Sussex; it now does so locally in temperate 

 Europe and Asia and southwards in Africa to Cape 

 Colony. The note is a clear " whit," the food of 

 insects, worms, crustaceans, and so forth, the flight 

 often performed in circles. The nest, if any, is very 

 slight, the three or four stone-coloured eggs with black 

 blotches often lying on bare mud or sand, where there 



Avocets 



is little or no vegetation. In colour the Avocet is 

 plain black and white, but it has a most extraordinary 

 bill, which has been likened to a couple of long flat 

 pieces of whale-bone pointed and upcurved at the tips. 

 The feet are also long, and the toes half -webbed. The 

 food is scooped up with a sidelong action of the bill, 

 whence the bird has been called the " Scooper." Other 

 names are " Cobbler's awl " and " Shoe-horn." 



