AVOSET. 
13 
however, are admirably adapted to its mode of life, and are of peculiar 
use in diving- under water, where they act as fins ; by which means it 
pursues its prey with astonishing- velocity. 
This bird is only found in the most northern parts of the kingdom ; 
is said to breed in the isle of St. Kilda, from which Dr. Fleming- had 
one in 1822 . Like the rest of this genus it lays only one egg, white, 
sometimes irregularly marked with purplish lines, or l>lotched with ferru- 
ginous and Ijlack at the larger end ; length six inches. It feeds on fish, 
but the young birds will eat rose root, ( Rhodiola rosea) or other plants. 
Mr. Bullock also informed Dr. Fleming, that an individual was taken 
in a pond of fresh water, two miles from the Thames, on the estate of 
Sir William Clayton, in Buckinghamshire. Wlien fed in confinement, 
it holds up its head, expressing its anxiety by shaking the head and 
neck, and uttering a gurgling noise. It dives under water, even with 
a long cord attached to its foot, with incredible swiftness.* 
AUSTRIAN PRATINCOLE.— A name for the Pratincole. 
AVES (Linn^us.) — Birds ; the second class of the animal kingdom 
in the Linnsean System. 
AVOSET (^Recurvirostra, LiNNiEus.) — A genus of which only 
one species is British. 
AVOSET {Recurvirostra Avocetta^ Linn^us.) 
Linn. Syst. p. 156. 1. — Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 693. — Bris. 6. p. 538. t. 47. — Ih. 8vo. 2. 
p. 604. — Bait, Syn. p. 117. A. 1. — Will. p. 340. t. 60. — Will. Angl. p. 123. — 
L’Avocette, Buf. 8. p. 466. t. 38. — Scooping Avocet. Br. Zool. 2. No. 228. 
t. 80. — Lath. Syn. 5. p. 293. 1. — lb. Sup. p. 263. Avocetta. — Inch Orn. 2. p. 
786. 1. — Don. Br. Birds, t. 66. — Lewin, Br. Birds, 6. t. 202 — Wale. Syn, 2. t. 
165. — Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 16. — De Kluxt, Sepp. 1. p. 67. — Temm. 2. — 
Flem. Br. Aniin. p. 101. 
The length of this species to the end of the tail is eighteen inches, 
to the end of the toes twenty-two : weight thirteen ounces. Bill black, 
flexible like whalebone ; irides dusky. The upper part of the head, 
and half the hinder part of the neck, black ; the cheeks and whole under 
parts of the bird are pure white ; outer scapulars, middle coverts of the 
wings, and greater quill-feathers, black ; the ridge of the wings, greater 
coverts, back, and tail, white ; legs bluish grey ; toes webbed about half 
their length. 
The Scooper is the only species found in England. It breeds in the 
fens of Lincolnshire, and on Romney Marsh in Kent. It does not 
migrate like other birds of similar habits, but is found at all seasons, 
though in winter it chiefly frequents the sea-shore ; and, besides on 
the coast of Kent, it is found about the mouth of the Severn in 
Gloucestershire, as well as on the eastern coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, 
