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Family SCOLOPACID^l. 



Genus RECURVIROSTRA. ' 



Avocetta apud Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 538 (1760). 

 Becurvirostra, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 256 (1766). 



This genus is distributed in the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian, Nearctic, and Neo- 

 tropical Regions, one species only being found in the Western Palsearctic Eegion. They resemble 

 some of the Sandpipers in their habits, though in their manner of flight they have more affinity 

 with the Stilt-Plovers. They frequent the shores of lagoons, mud-flats on the coast, and places 

 where there are shallows, where they can obtain their food by wading ; for they frequently wade 

 up to their bellies in the water, and will swim when they get out of their depth. They walk 

 and swim with ease, and are usually to be seen moving quietly about the shores in search of 

 their food, which consists of minute aquatic insects, which they scoop up in shallow water, 

 moving their bills as a mower does his scythe. Their flight is tolerably strong, but somewhat 

 heavy and slow, with their long legs stretched out behind, looking like long tail-feathers. 

 They are, as a rule, gregarious, collecting together in larger or smaller flocks ; and even during 

 the breeding-season several pairs dwell near together. Their note is clear and flute-like, and is 

 generally uttered when the bird is on the wing. Their nest is a mere hole scratched in the 

 ground, and lined with a few grass-straws and roots; and their eggs, three or four in number, are 

 warm stone-ochreous spotted and blotched with blackish. 



Becurvirostra avocetta, the type of the genus, has the bill long (more than twice the length 

 of the head), very slender, broader than high at the base, tapering gradually to a point, and con- 

 siderably recurved on the terminal portion ; nasal groove extending over about one third of the 

 length of the bill ; nostrils basal, linear ; wings long, narrow, pointed, the first quill longest ; 

 tail short, nearly even ; legs very long and slender, the tibia bare for nearly half its length ; 

 tarsus long, compressed, covered with hexagonal scales ; hind toe very small, anterior toes 

 moderately long, connected by deeply emarginate webs, which do not extend to the end of the 

 toes ; claws small, slender, very slightly curved, obtuse, that on the middle toe larger, and with 

 the inner edge slightly dilated. 



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