THE AVOCET. 393 
young, the head and neck are clothed with a blackish down, but when the 
bird reaches maturity, even this slender covering is shed, and the whole skin 
is left bare. The body is little larger than that of a common fowl. 
ANOTHER species, the GLOSSY IBIS, is also an inhabitant of Northern 
Africa, but is sometimes ‘ound in this country, where the fishermen know it 
by the name of Black Curlew, It is probably the Black Ibis mentioned by 
Herodotus. 
THE CURLEW, or WHAUP, 1s mostly found upon the sea-shore and open 
moorlands, and partly on account of its wild, shy habits, and partly because 
its flesh is very delicate and well flavoured, is greatly pursued by sportsmen. 
These birds are mostly annoying to a gunner who does not understand their 
ways, having a fashion of keeping just out of gun range, rising from the 
ground with a wila mournful cry which has the effect of alarming every other 
bird within hearing, and flying off to a distance, where they alight only to 
play the same trick again. Moreover, they are strong on the wing and well 
feathered, so that they require a sharp blow to bring them down, and 
necessitate the use of large shot. 
The breeding-grounds of the Curlew are inland, the locality varying 
according to the character of the district, wild heath and high hilly grounds 
being chosen in some places, while marshy and boggy soils are favoured in 
others. The nest of this bird is very slight, being only a small heap of dry 
leaves or grasses scraped together under the shelter of a tuft of heather or a 
bunch of rank grass, There are usually four eggs, placed, as is customary 
with sich birds, with their small ends together, and being much larger at 
one end than at the other. 
Their colour is brownish 
green, with some blotches 
and splashes of dark brown 
and a darker green. 
THE AVOCET is one of the 
most remarkableamong Eng- 
lish birds, and is easily re- 
cognizable by its long, curi- 
ously-curved beak, and its 
boldly pied plumage. 
It is not a common bird 
in England, and is now but 
seldom seen, though in for- 
mer days it used to be 
tolerably plentiful on the 
sea-coasts and in marshy a 
lands. The long and oddly aa 
curved beak is very slender 
and pointed, and from its 
peculiar shape has earned 
for its owner the name of Cobbler's-Awl Bird. The food of the Avocet con- 
sists almost wholly of worms, insects, and little crustaceans ; and while the 
bird is engaged in the search after these creatures it paddles over the 
oozy mud with its webbed feet, and traverses the soft surface with much 
ease and some celerity. 
The nest of the Avocet is placed on the ground in some convenient 
hollow, and the eggs are yellowish brown with tack marks. 
LIKE many other birds which depend for their existence upon marshy and 
uncultivated grounds, the RUFF is gradually being turned out of England, 
and may in time be nothing more than a rare and occasional yisitor, 
AVOCET. —(Recurvirostra avoceita.) 
