EECUEVIBOSTEA AVOCETTA. 927 



in England, where it bred, prior to the drainage of the fens and other marsh-land, in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, 

 Kent, and Sussex. It is more than thirty years since its eggs were taken in this country. In Ireland 

 and Scotland it is a straggler, having occurred as far north as Orkney. It breeds in the south-east of Europe, 

 where Dr. Cullen found it nesting in the Dobrudscha; in Macedonia it was observed by Col. Drummond-Hay, 

 and Lord Lilford met with it in Epirus ; in Transylvania it has occurred, but very rarely. In Sardinia it is 

 not uncommon in winter ; but in North Italy it appears to be seen chiefly in the spring ; and in Malta and 

 Gozo Mr. Wright met with it in spring and autumn. In Southern Spain Mr. Saunders found it breeding; 

 but it is not numerous there, either according to this gentleman or Col. Irby, who testifies to its nesting near 

 Seville ; he never observed it near Gibraltar, but he gives Favier's assertion that it is a bird of passage in 

 Morocco, occurring in March, April, and May, and on its return in November. Further south Canon Tristram 

 met with it at Tuggurt, south of the Atlas, and on the borders of the Sahara. In Egypt it is a winter visitor, 

 is moderately abundant, and inhabits suitable localities throughout Egypt, Nubia, and Kordofan. Von 

 Heuglin obtained it in Lower Egypt in May, and is of opinion that it may breed in the Nile delta. From 

 Northern Africa it extends down both the east and west coasts of the continent, and finds its way to Cape 

 Colony, where it is tolerably numerous, not a few breeding there, as also in Damara Land, where Mr. Anderssou 

 found young birds. It has been observed by Drs. Kirk, Hartlaub, and Livingstone in the Zambesi country ; 

 and the two former naturalists assert that it visits Madagascar. Layard (B. of S. Afr.) records it from Zeekoe 

 Bay, Nel's Poort, and Beaufort, in Cape Colony, and writes subsequently in the ' Ibis ' that a Mr. Ortlepp found 

 them breeding near Colesberg, and that it had also been met with at Hopetown. In Damara Land, where 

 Mr. Andersson says it is not uncommon at Walvisch Bay, Sandwich Harbour, Angra, &c, it has been found as far 

 inland as Objimbinque and Ondonga. On the west coast higher up it has been met with at the Congo by 

 Tuckey. 



Habits. — This elegant and handsome bird frequents mud and sand banks, the shores of tidal rivers, oozy 

 flats round salt lagoons, and backwaters and the borders of muddy tanks and pools in India. It is frequently 

 seen in small parties ; but towards the time of passage it congregates in large flocks, and is often very tame, 

 whereas when feeding alone on rivers it is, according to Mr. Hume, just the reverse. It walks in compact 

 troops, so that sometimes as many as a dozen have been killed at one shot. It searches for its food in the 

 wet mud and ooze just left bare with the tide, or in shallow water, and takes up the worms, Crustacea, minute 

 mollusca, and aquatic insects, on which it feeds, with a forward and sideward motion of its curiously upturned 

 bill. It is quite evident that it cannot probe the mud with the tip of the bill so very acute and recurved ; but, 

 in order to cover as much ground as possible, it shoots it forward and then sweeps it sideways, taking in its food. 

 Mr. Dresser writes, concerning his observations of the American Avocet : — " A flock of, say, ten or a dozen 

 would commence operations in a diagonal line, one rather before the other, exactly like mowers in a field ; and 

 they moved slowly onwards, scooping sideways in the water with their recurved bills in regular order, reminding 

 one most forcibly of a gang of mowers. I have several times examined the stomachs of Avocets I have obtained, 

 and never found any thing in them but a mass of stuff mixed up with tiny stones, and could never exactly 

 make out of what it consisted, though it appeared, so far as I could ascertain, to be the remains of minute 

 insects pounded up into an uudistinguishable pulp." I gather further, from the observations of Mr. Hume 

 during his visit to Sindh, that they are very active noisy birds, trotting about very rapidly with their whole 

 bill immersed in the water, moving their heads from side to side as they trot along, and reminding one, very 

 much in their actions of the Spoonbill." The Avocet not unfrequently takes to the water, little flocks having 

 been seen by different observers floating about as if for amusement or in order to rest themselves. Major 

 Hayes-Lloyd remarks that he has frequently seen them swimming in Kattiawar ; and Mr. Dresser writes :— " I 

 have seen a flock feeding in shallow water; and when I have approached rather too close they would wade 

 deeper until they got out of their depth, when they paddled easily across the narrow lagoon and commenced 

 operations again in the shallow water on the other side." 



Nidification.—The Avocet breeds in Europe in the months of May and Jane. In the former month it 

 lays in Spain ; and on the 30th of the same Mr. Durnford procured its eggs at Husum, on the coast of 



