26o



Mr. R. I. Pocock,



parents, which with head lowered and bill advanced resolutely

charged and put to flight every bird, from an Oyster Catcher

to a Wagtail, that ventured too near. No further use was

made of the nest, when once deserted. At night and off and

on during the day one of the parent birds, no doubt the hen r

broods over her chick in the way depicted in our illustration.



Fig. 1.

FEMALE AVOCET BROODING OVER HER CHICK.


Squatting upon her hocks, she utters a whistling call ; and

the little one, running up in response to it, takes his stand

beneath her, sometimes upon one of her legs, and thrusts

his head and body beneath the breast-feathers and wing of one

side, leaving nothing exposed but his legs which look like

a pair of dwarfed supernumerary limbs depending from the

breast of the mother.


Although at first somewhat staggery and weak upon his

legs, despite their thickness and suggested strength, the chick

rapidly gained in vigour, and after a couple of days or so might

be seen pattering about independently with all the confidence

born of youth and inexperience, utterly oblivious of possibilities

of danger and fully trusting, it would seem, to his parents to

drive away every intruder. When feeding, the chick at first

resorted to the pecking action characteristic of most birds and

also of the old Avocets when eating definite particles of food



