AVOCET. 625 



Legs slender, long, great portion of the tibia naked; three toes in front, him! tot- 

 small, articulated high up on the tarsus, the anterior toes united as far as the 



second articulation, by a membrane, the margin of which is concave. Wings 



pointed ; the first quill-feather the longest in the wing. 



THE AVOCET is certainly a singular looking bird ; both in 

 reference to its beak as well as its feet ; but it is also as 

 handsome as it is singular. The beak is curved upwards, is 

 slender, pointed and flexible, having very much the appear- 

 ance of a thin piece of elastic whalebone, and is, to the 

 bird, I have no doubt, a delicate organ of touch ; while the 

 semi-palmated feet seem only intended to support the bird 

 on soft mud, as it never attempts to paddle or swim when 

 out of its depth, but allows itself to float along motionless. 

 This bird is apparently more rare now than formerly. Sir 

 Thomas Browne says they were not uncommon in his time 

 in the marshy lands of Norfolk, and some years ago I was 

 told that more than twenty specimens were received at 

 Leadenhall market for sale within one month ; but now 

 scarcely an example appears once in a year : the last I 

 heard of was in the spring of 1837. 



Mr. Thompson says it is a very rare visiter to Ireland ; 

 one or two have been killed in Cornwall, and they were 

 noticed formerly in Gloucestershire and in Shropshire. 

 Four are recorded as having been obtained in Devonshire ; 

 one or two in Dorsetshire. Mr. Markwick, in his catalogue 

 of the Birds of Sussex, printed in 1795, says, this bird is 

 not uncommon on our sea-coast in summer ; but whether it 

 is to be found here in winter I cannot tell, as I do not re- 

 collect to have ever seen it at that season. That it breeds 

 here I have been an eye-witness, for I remember that seve- 

 ral years ago, I found in the marshes near Bye a young 

 one of this species, which appeared to have been just hatch- 

 ed, and I took it up in my hands, whilst the old birds kept 



VOL. II. S S 



