928 RECURVIROSTRA AVOCETTA. 



Sclilcswig Holstein. In some regions it nests in marshes; but in others, such as the Dobrudscha, and appa- 

 rently also at the Cape, it chooses sandy wastes and shingle, or the dried-up mud on the foreshores of salt 

 lakes and lagoons. From Mr. Harting's interesting article on this species, contained in his valuable and 

 exhaustive notice of the genus ('Ibis,' 1874), I transcribe the following particulars : — "The nest is usually a 

 mere hollow lined with stems, straws, and pieces of caked mud, but is frequently without any lining at all. 

 Dr. Cullen once found some nests made completely of straws and stones built up to the height of 6 or 8 

 inches. When undisturbed the bird invariably lays four eggs. . . . Notwithstanding that the nest is generally 

 in an exposed situation, it is not very easy to find; for the bird never flies directly to or from it. It 

 always runs crouchingly along the ground, with head bent low, for some little way before it takes flight, and 

 in returning it invariably alights first at some distance, and approaches the nest in the same cautious way that 

 it left it. It is a shy and restless bird, and betrays great uneasiness if its nest is approached or its young 

 molested, often trying to entice the intruder away by feigning lameness or a broken wing." 



The eggs are very handsome, varying in ground-colour from a rich stone-buff or clay-yellow to light ochra- 

 ceous stone : the markings are in general moderately small for the size of the egg, very dark, almost black, 

 and sharp-edged, like blots of ink ; they are distributed tolerably well over the whole surface of the egg, and are 

 mixed up with small blots of bluish grey. In a series of sixteen before me, three are marked with small spots 

 and two with large hieroglyphic-like blots, some of which are washed out in parts. In one egg there are a 

 very few large blots of sepia-black, overlying small blots of bluish grey. In size this series varies from 1-85 

 by 1'38 inch to 2"04 by 1"38; one very broad specimen measures 1"94 by T43. In shape they are broad, 

 somewhat pointed ovals, but not pyriform or compressed at the small end. With regard to the method 

 of feeding the young by the parents, Mr. Harting considers it probable that the old birds bring the food 

 " crosswise in their bills, and laying the latter close alongside the open mandibles of the young, allow them to 

 snatch the food sideways from them;" for, as he remarks, owing to the weak attenuated tips of the bills both 

 in the old and young the food could not be held in them, and their peculiar shape would prevent the bill of 

 the parent being thrust into that of the young, as is the case with insectivorous birds. 



GRALL^l. 



CHARADRIIDiE. 

 Subfam. CHARADRIINiE. 



Bill short and moderately slender ; the culmen compressed at the base, and the tip swollen. 

 Wings long ; tertials lengthened. Legs moderate and slender ; toes moderate, outer and 

 middle connected at the base by a web ; hind toe wanting, except in one genus. 



Of littoral habit. Mostly of small size, with a change of plumage in the breeding-season. 



