AVOCET 253 



like a surgeon's needle. 1 Its legs and feet are long and 

 slender, and its toes are partially webbed (figs. 37 and 39.) 



The Avocet is a bird of the coast. It delights to probe in 

 the soft ooze of tidal estuaries, where it obtains an abundance 

 of food. 



Degland, in his ' Ornithologie Europeenne,' points out 

 that the partial webbing of the foot enables this bird not 

 only to swim, but even to support itself on the sinking slimy 

 marshes which it traverses. 



The swimming-powers have been noticed by many 

 authorities. Mr. E. Warren has seen it swim out from 

 shallow water to the open sea, with the wind against it, 

 the bird all the while rising buoyantly over the waves. 



Food. Worms, insects, small shell-fish, crabs, and 

 shrimps, form the staple diet. The method of feeding is 

 peculiar : as the bird paces over the ooze, it applies its 

 beak to the flat muddy surface, and rotates it from side 

 to side. This leaves a zig-zag track behind it, a useful 

 means of detecting the bird's whereabouts. 



Sir K. Payne-G-allwey points out that "the flat forma- 

 tion of the edges of the bill and its recurving shape allow it 

 to sweep over the level surface of the mud. The food is 

 taken in where the bend of the bill touches the ground " 

 ('Letters to Young Shooters,' Third Series, pp. 301-302). 



1 From the formation of its beak the Avocet has been called the 

 cobbler's-awl duck,' and the ' shoeing-horn.' 



