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THE AVOCET. 
form the segment of a wide arch. The plumage is black 
and white with intermediate shades. Yarrell speaks of this 
as a singular looking bird, and as handsome as it is singular ; 
the bill, which he likens to an elastic piece of whalebone, 
is, he doubts not, a delicate organ of touch, while the semi- 
AVOCET. 
palinated feet seem only intended to support the bird on 
soft mud, as it never attempts to paddle or swim when out 
of its depth, but allows itself to float along motionless. 
The Avocet, which once bred in the marshy districts of 
Norfolk, Kent, and some other counties, is now known only 
as a casual visitant, or winter resident. Temminck says 
that it forms a small cavity among the grass or in the sand, 
and lays two, seldom three, eggs of an olivaceous grey colour, 
sprinkled with numerous blackish spots. 
Mudie says — * Avocets are restless and lively in their 
manners, more sportive than most of the other fen birds. 
They have not the hideling disposition of the Snipes, nor 
the demureness of the Godwits : in some of thei^ habits 
they more resemble the Lapwing, especially in the finesse 
shown by the female to entice strangers away from her eggs 
or young. She meets the traveller, and flies around him 
in rapid circles, screaming quheetj quheet ! but aspirated 
in a manner that cannot be expressed by letters. She also 
