THE AVOSETTA. 



Description. 



is /remarkably long, was once supposed a grand 

 preservative for the teeth ; and was often set in 

 silver, and used as a tooth-pick. 



THE AVOSETTA. 



THIS bird is principally fpund near Milan 

 in Italy ; frequently at Rome, and sometimes 

 on the eastern coasts of Suffolk and Norfolk, 

 in the winter. The body is about the size of 

 .a pigeon, but very slender made, and tall, being 

 from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, 

 fourteen inches long, and weighs about nine 

 ounces ; its beak is black, flat, and sharp at the 

 end, hooking upwards, which is peculiar to this 

 bird only, about four inches long ; the tongue 

 short and not cloven. It has a fine stately pace, 

 or way of walking; its head is not large, but 

 round, and black on the top, and a little way 

 down the back part of the neck ; the body en- 

 tirely white on the under side, the back and co- 

 vert feathers white, spotted with dusky brown 

 spots; the legs long, of .a lovely bright azure co- 

 lour, bare of feathers above the knees, the claws 

 black, and very small ; it has a back toe, which is 

 also small. 



From its being bare of feathers above the knee, 

 we may naturally conclude, that it lives by wading 

 in the waters, and that it has also sonre affinity 

 R & 



