SCOOPING AVOSET— AMERICAN AVOSET. 227 



There were Gannets,* too, — Kilda's prime, staple 



support ; 

 And some Shags* that on ocean delight oft to sport. 



With recurvate and flexible beak ting'd with jet, 

 Appear'd, too, the Scooper, yclept Avoset ( 37 ). 

 The Pigeons Domestic in large circles soar; 

 While the Cock and Hen sought out the granary door : 

 In variety there seen, a numerous tribe, 

 Whom pen or whom pencil could scarcely describe; 

 Pugnacity ever their prominent trait, — 

 Which young and which old, all observant, obey. 



( 37 ) Order, Grall^e, (Linn.) Avoset, the Scooping, the 



American, the White. 

 The genus Recurvi rostra, (Linn.) or Avoset, consists of 

 four species, distinguished by a depressed, subulate, recurved 

 bill; pointed, flexible at the top; feet palmate. The chief are 

 the following. 



The Avocetia, Avoset, Scooping-Avoset, Butter-flip, 

 Scoaper, Yelper, Picarini, Crooked-bill, or Cobler's-awl, is varie- 

 gated with white and black ; length eighteen inches ; bill black, 

 recurved at the point, flexible like whalebone ; toes webbed 

 about half their length ; feeds on worms and marine insects, 

 which it scoops out of the mud or sand ; eggs two, white tinged 

 with green, and marked with large black spots, size of a 

 pigeon's. Inhabits southern Europe, and found also in this 

 country. 



The Americanus, or American-Avoset, has the back black, 

 beneath white ; seventeen inches long ; inhabits North America 

 and New Holland. — The Alba, or White-Avoset, is white, 

 wing coverts brownish; bill orange; fourteen inches and a half 

 long ; inhabits Hudson's Bay. 



* Sec Part II. for a description of both Gannets and Sfthgs, 

 under the genus Pdecanus. 



