THE AVOCET. 221 



Castlebridge, near Wexford. " They were very wary, running on 

 the slimes, and flitting away low under cover of the banks, like 

 kingfishers." He could not meet with these birds again, though 

 going repeatedly in pursuit of them ; but they remained in the 

 locality for some time, having frequently been seen by persons 

 resident there. An avocet was obtained a few years since near 

 Castletown, Bear Haven.* " A pair of adult birds, in beautiful 

 plumage, were shot by Wm. Crawford, Esq., in Cork Harbour, in 

 January 1848 : the first about the 5th of the month, when both 

 were seen together ; the second was procured three weeks after- 

 wards : both specimens have been carefully preserved/^ One was 

 seen on the Dublin coast, in the same month, by Mr. R. J. Mont- 

 gomery. The occurrence of others in the south has been 

 reported to me, but not with sufficient accuracy for notice here. 



Avocets bred sparingly until of late years in a few of the fenny 

 districts of the east of England; but they are now only irregular 

 visitants to any part of that country. They are said by Dr. 

 Fleming and Mr. Selby (but without any particulars being given 

 or localities named), to have been met with in Scotland. Mr. Ed- 

 monston, however, mentions Zetland as occasionally visited by 

 them. They would appear not to migrate far north on the Euro- 

 pean continent for the purpose of breeding ; but to keep chiefly 

 lo the south of the Baltic Sea. In June 1826, I was much 

 interested in meeting with them about low marshy ground, 

 between Leyden and Haarlem, in Holland. 



THE LONG-LEGGED PLOVER. 



Himantopus melanqpterus, Meyer. 

 Ckaradrius himantopus, Linn. 



Is of extremely rare occurrence. 



In the winter of 1823 or 1824 — as recorded by me in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1834 — Mr. R. Ball had, 



* Mr. G. Jackson, gamekeeper. f Dr. Harvey, of Cork. 



