626 SCOLOPACID.E. 



flying round me. I have also seen it in the summer on the 

 sea- coast at Bexhill. 



They formerly visited Eomney Marsh, but I find no re- 

 cord of them there at present ; they are also rare now in 

 Norfolk. The authors of the catalogue of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk Birds, say, that during the breeding season the 

 Avocet used to frequent the marshes at Winterton ; and in 

 the summer of 1816 we saw one there which had young. 

 This bird made several circles round us, uttering a shrill 

 note, and then alighted in the middle of a pool of water, on 

 which it floated ; then took several turns on wing, and 

 again alighted on the water, where it sat motionless. The 

 bill of the Avocet is so flexible that it is totally unfit for a 

 weapon of offence, and the bird itself has a peculiarly 

 harmless and meek appearance. 



W. B. Fisher, Esq. has recorded the occurrence of three 

 specimens of the Avocet in the neighbourhood of the 

 Broads near Yarmouth, in Norfolk, in 1842 and 43; and in 

 reference to these Broads the Rev. Mr. Lubbock says, " At 

 the beginning of the present century, the Avocet used to 

 breed constantly and in considerable numbers at Horsey, 

 but has not done so of late years. On the authority of an 

 old and respectable fen-man, it bred regularly forty years 

 ago near the seven mile-house on the North river; and 

 occurs still sometimes upon Breedon. The last I know of 

 positively in the fens, was a small flock which visited Sut- 

 ton Broad in 1828. They used formerly to breed at Salt- 

 house near Holt, but are now extinct there ; they were 

 much harassed, as their feathers are valuable to make arti- 

 ficial flies with." 



A. E. Knox, Esq. of New Grove, Petworth, says, that 

 " at a late period a flock of five Avocets were seen at Pag- 

 ham harbour, about six miles from Chichester. They were 



