RECUB VIE 0 STE A AVOCETTA. 
927 
in England, where it bred, prior to the drainage of the fens and other marsh -land, in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, 
Kent mul Sussex. It is more than thirty years since its eggs were taken in this country. In Ireland 
and Scotland it is a straggler, having occurred as far north as Orkney. It breeds in the south-east of Europe, 
where Dr Cullen found it nesting in the Dobrudscha; in Macedonia it was observed by Col. Drummond-Hay, 
and Lord Lilford met with it in Epirus ; in Transylvania it has occurred, but very rarely. In Sardinia it is 
not uncommon in winter; but in North Italy it appears to be seen chiefly in the spring; and in Malta and 
Gozo Mr Wright met with it in spring and autumn. In Southern Spain Mr. Saunders found it breeding; 
but it is not numerous there, either according to this gentleman or Col. Irby, who testifies to its nesting near 
Seville ; he never observed it near Gibraltar, but he gives Favier’s assertion that it is a bird ot passage in 
Morocco, occurring in March, April, and May, and on its return in November. Further south Canon Tristram 
met with it at Tuggurt, south of the Atlas, and on the borders of the Sahara. In Egypt it is a w inter visi or, 
is moderately abundant, and inhabits suitable localities throughout Egypt, Nubia, and Kordotan. on 
Heugliu obtained it in Lower Egypt in May, and is of opinion that it may breed m the Nile delta, from 
Northern Africa it extends down both the east and west coasts of the continent, and finds its way to Cape 
Colony, where it is tolerably numerous, not a few breeding there, as also in Damara Land, where Mr. Andersson 
found* young birds. It has been observed by Drs. Kirk, Hartlaub, and Livingstone in the Zambesi country ; 
and the two former naturalists assert that it visits Madagascar. Layard (B. of S. Afr.) records it from Zeekoe 
Bay, Nel’s Poort, and Beaufort, in Cape Colony, and writes subsequently in the 1 Ibis ’ that a Mr. Ortlepp found 
them breeding near Colesberg, and that it had also been met with at Hopetown. In Damara Land, where 
Mr Andersson says it is not uncommon at W alvisch Bay, Sandwich Harbour, Angra, &c., it has been found as far 
inland as Objimbinque and Ondonga. On the west coast higher up it has been met with at the Congo by 
Tuckey. 
Habits . — This elegant and handsome bird frequents mud and sand banks, the shores of tidal rivers, oozy 
flats round salt lagoons, and backwaters and the borders ot muddy tanks and pools in India. It is frequently 
seen in small parties ; but towards the time of passage it congregates in large flocks, and is often very tame, 
whereas when feeding alone on river, it is, according to Mr. Hume, just the reverse. It walks m compact 
Troops so that sometimes as many a, a dosen have been killed at one shot. It searches for ,ts food m the 
wTmid and core just left bare with the tide, or in shallow water, and takes up the worms, Crustacea, minute 
molluscs, and aqua ic insects, on which it feeds, with a forward and sideward motion of its curiously upturned 
“a, It is quite evident that it cannot probe the mud with the tip of the bill so very acute and recurved i but, 
in order to cover as much ground as possible, it shoots it forward and then sweeps it s.deways, taking in rts food. 
Sr Dresser writes, concerning his observations of the American Avocet A flock of, say, ten or a dose,, 
would commence operations in a diagonal line, one rather before the other, exactly like mowers in a field , and 
tbev moved slowly onwards, scooping sideways in the water with their recurved bills in regular order, reminding 
one* most forcibly of a gang of mowers. I have several times examined the stomachs of Avocets I have obtained, 
and never found any thing in them but a mass of stuff mixed up with tiny stones, and could never exact y 
make out of what it consisted, though it appeared, so far as I could ascertain to be the remains of minute 
insects pounded up into an ^distinguishable pulp.” 1 gather further, from the observations of Mr. Hume 
during his visit to Sindh, that they are very active noisy birds, trotting about very rapidly with their w 
bill immersed in the water, moving their heads from side to side as they trot along, and reminding one very 
much in their actions of the Spoonbill.” The Avocet not unfrequently takes to the water, little flocks having 
been seen by different observers floating about as if for amusement or in order to rest themselves Major 
Hayes-Llovd remarks that he has frequently seen them swimming in Ivattiawar ; and Mr. Dresser wntes . 1 
have seen a flock feeding in shallow water; and when I have approached rather too close they would wade 
deeper until they got out of their depth, when they paddled easily across the narrow lagoon and commenced 
operations again in the shallow water on the other side.” 
NidiHcaiion —The Avocet breeds in Europe in the months of May and June. In the former month it 
lays in Spain; and on the 30th of the same Mr. Durnford procured its eggs at Husum, on the coast of 
