On the Nesting of the Avocets in the Zoological Gardens. 259


never, so far as I am aware, been bred in captivity before. The

following account, therefore, may perhaps prove acceptable to

readers of the Avicultural Magazi?ie.


Towards the middle of May the behaviour of two out

of the five Avocets in the aviary suggested the likelihood of

laying being under serious consideration, possibly indeed immi-

nent ; and 011 the 15th of the month expectations were realised

by the appearance of the first egg, which was deposited on a

rough nest of dead leaves and twigs gathered into a flat or

slightly hollowed heap on the sand under the shelter of a hem-

lock and some clumps of iris. Additional protection, in the

form of cut branches of box stuck into the sand, was hastily

improvised ; and the path along the side of the aviary was

closed to the public to give the birds every chance of sitting

undisturbed.


A second egg was laid on the 18th and a third on the 20th

of May. The hen bird started to sit on the 19th ; and thereafter

the eggs were seldom if ever left for any length of time,

the cock and the hen taking turns at the incubation and

attending assiduously to their duties. The rest of the Avocets

were generally to be seen near the sitting pair ; but although to

the sentimental onlooker their bearing suggested a desire to

share in the pride of the performance successfully accomplished

by their colleagues or to display a sympathetic interest in their

family cares, veracity nevertheless compels us to admit that the

underlying motive of their behaviour was probably nothing but

the gregarious instinct deep-rooted by nature in the species.


On June the 12th the chicks were first seen. Thus the

period of incubation was, as nearly as can be computed, about

twenty-four days and not seventeen days as has been previously

stated 011 the alleged authority of Naumanu. Unhappily two of

the chicks never left the nest alive. They were apparently

killed, accidentally crushed, it is believed, by the superincumbent

hen who was roughly interfered with by the importunate atten-

tions of one inconsiderate cock. The third chick escaped the

fate that befel its fellow - nestlings and when two days old

was to be seen pecking about 011 the sand and in the shallow

water of the pond under the watchful guardianship df~4ts--



