" The nest of the Avocet is sometimes only a slight natural hollow in the sun-baked mud." 



THE AVOCET 



I 



T is a great pity that drainage 

 and senseless persecution 

 should have been instru- 

 mental in banishing such 

 a beautiful and interesting 

 bird as the Avocet from 

 its ancient breeding haunts 

 in the British Islands. But 

 as members of the species still continue 

 to visit our shores occasionally in the 

 spring, either singly or in small com- 

 panies, it is, perhaps, not too much to 

 hope that some day a pair or two may 

 be induced to stay and breed in a 

 recently formed East Anglian Bird 

 Sanctuary. Until such a greatly to 

 be desired end is attained, perhaps the 

 best European countries to visit for 

 the study of this conspicuous member of 

 the Wader family are Spain, Denmark, 

 and Holland. In the last-named country 



my brother obtained the photographs 

 that form our illustrations. 



The Avocet measures nearly eighteen 

 inches in length. Its long, curiously 

 upward curved bill is highly suggestive 

 of a cobbler's awl, whilst its semi- 

 palmated feet enable it to walk with 

 ease over soft mud flats in search of 

 worms and aquatic insects upon which 

 it feeds. It can swim with the greatest 

 facility, and, when wounded, dives in 

 order to escape its would-be captor. 



On the Norfolk Broads single birds 

 of this species consort with gulls, but 

 in its breeding haunts on the Continent 

 it is generally found in the company 

 of the noisy redshank. 



It breeds in suitable localities both 

 in Asia and Northern Africa, and 

 must have been a familiar object to 

 ancient Egyptian artists who painted 



