RECURVIROSTRA AVOCETTA. 



(THE COMMON AVOCET.) 



Recurvirostra avocetta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 256 (1766); Gould, B. of Eur. iv. pi. 368 

 (1837); Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 265 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1854, xiv. p. 265; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 706; Schelgel, Mus. P.-B. Scolopaces, 

 p. 105 (1864); Layard, B. of S. Africa, no. 617 (1867); Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, 

 p. 405; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 475; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 260 (1872); Hume, 

 Str. Feath. 1873, p. 248 ; Adam, t. c. p. 397 ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 53 ; Harting, 

 Ibis, 1874, p. 245; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1175 (1874); Dresser, B. of 

 Europe, pt. 46 (1875); Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 164 (1875); Blanford, Zool. Persia, 

 p. 286 (1876) ; Butler & Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 18 ; David & Oustalet, Ois. de la 

 Chine, p. 461 (1877); Blakiston & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 220 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1878, 

 vii. p. 289 ; id. ibid. 1879, viii. p. 113 (List of Ind. B.). 



Recurvirostra europcea, Dumont, Diet, des Sc. Nat. iii. p. 339 (1816). 



Recurvirostra tephroleuca, Vieillot, Enc. Meth. p. 360 (1823). 



Recurvirostra sinensis, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1867, p. 401. 



Avocette, Brisson ; Scoping Avocet, Lath. & Pennant ; Sabelschnahler, German ; Boceta, 

 Spanish (Saunders) ; Alfayate, Frade, Portuguese (Smith) ; Halebi, Arabic (Von 

 Heuglin) ; Bou-mehet, Moorish (Favier). ShilocluvJca, Russians in Central Asia (Preje- 

 valsky) ; Kusya chaha, Bengal. (Jerdon). 



Adult male and female (China). Length 18-0 inches ; wing 8'7 to 9-2 ; tail 4 - ; tarsus 3*0 ;, middle toe (without claw) 



1*5 ; bill, measured straight from base to tip, 3 - 2 to 3 - 5. The larger dimension relates to males. 

 (Europe : Brit. Mus.) Wing 8-7 inches ; tail 4-0 ; tarsus 3-2 ; bare tibia 2-8 ; middle toe 1-5 ; bill at front (straight) 



3-3. Another example has the bill at front (straight) 3 - 0. 

 Iris red or brownish red ; bill blackish horn ; legs and feet bluish grey ; " soles of the feet tinged with buff " {Harting). 

 (Athens.) Plumage white ; top of the head, including the lores and upper part of the face, the hind neck, shorter 



scapulars and an adjacent dorsal patch, lesser and median wing-coverts, tertial feathers, and the primaries, black ; 



this colour descends down the hind neck in a broad band of half an inch in width. In birds which are not fully 



adult the central tail-feathers are sullied with brown. 



Young. The bill is stated at first to be straight (Cullen) ; but it appears to assume the curved shape after a few days. 



Nestling in down. Bill at front 0-68 inch; tarsus 1T2. Dusky grey above, with an irregular band down the centre 

 of the back, and a stripe on each side of the rump ; the back also mottled openly with brown ; a thin stripe 

 through the lores and behind the eye. 



Further stage, back and wings feathered. Head and nape brown ; hind neck and back fulvous tawny ; scapulars white 

 outwardly ; an angular patch of brown on the interscapulars ; the tips of the feathers buff ; wing-coverts and 

 tertials brown, margined with buff ; secondaries white ; primaries black ; face and all beneath white. Bill at 

 front 1-75 inch; tarsus 1-75. 



Immature birds have the black parts sullied with brown and the central tail-feathers brownish. 



06s. This interesting genus comprises three species besides the present, two of which are peculiar to America, and 

 the third to Australia. R. americana, Gmelin, which inhabits North America, south of Hudson's Bay, including 

 California, and extends into Mexico and Central America, is distinguished from the present by having in the 

 summer the head and neck pale sandy red, blending into the white on the chin and forehead, and below into the 



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