RE CUR VI ROSTRA AVOCETTA, 



A V 0 c e r, 



Generic Character, 



Bill long, (lender, tapering to the point, curving upwards. 

 NoHrils narrow, pervious, 

 Tongue fhort, entire. 

 Legs long. 



Feet pal mated to near the extremity of the toes, 

 Back-Toe {mail. 



Synonyms. 



Recurvirostra Avocetta. Lin. Syft. 156. ed. 1. 

 Scooping Avocet. Br. Zool. 2. p. 228. tab. 80. Lath. 



Syn. 5. 293. Mont. Orn. Dift. 

 Avocet, Bewick's Br. Birds, Pi 2. p. 147; 



T 



JL HIS, the only fpecies of Avocet found in this country, 

 is in length nearly eighteen inches, to the extremity of the toes 

 twenty-two inches, and from tip to tip of the wings thirty, 

 weighs twelve to fourteen ounces, bill three inches and a half 

 in length, of a very curious form, " looking " as Bewick 

 aptly obferves " not unlike flexible pieces of flat whalebone, 

 curved upwards to the tip thighs bare half-way up. Toes 

 three before, connected by a very ftrong membrane, which 

 is flightly ferrated at the edges, and deeply indented in the 

 centre ; hind toe very fhort. 



This bird inhabits the fea mores of Southern Europe, breeds 

 in mod of our fenny counties ; may frequently be obferved in 



the 



