184 
Allen's naturalist’s library. 
and on the islands both of salt and fresh water. It seems as much 
at home on the plough-fields and river-banks in Inverness-shire 
as on the sandy shores of the Fame Islands. I have found full 
sets of fresh eggs in Inverness-shire as early as April 20th, and 
young birds by the middle of May. The markings on the 
eggs consist sometimes of zig-zag streaks, and sometimes of 
spots and blotches more or less well-defined, small specimens 
of the latter kind being difficult to distinguish from some 
varieties of the Great Plover.” The eggs are three in number, 
the ground-colour varying from warm clay-brown to stone- 
colour and pale greenish-olive. The overlying spots are 
blackish or dark chocolate-brown, generally distributed over 
the egg, sometimes as blotches and often in lines and scrib- 
blings. The underlying spots are pale purplish-grey, and are 
distinctly perceptible, especially on the more lightly-marked 
eggs. Axis, 2'i-2'55 inches; diam., i'5-i75. 
THE AVOCETS AND STILTS. SUB-FAMILY 
HIMANTOPODIN^. 
The members of this Sub-family have been associated 
together by recent students of the Charadriidee, and Mr. 
Scebohm has gone so far as to put the Avocet and the 
Stilt into the same genus, a conclusion with which I cannot 
agree ; and it is even doubtful to my mind whether these birds 
are not sufficiently distinct from one another as to deserve being 
classed in different Sub-families. There is no dertrum or 
swelling at the end of the bill, which shows that they are not 
Plovers, and the legs are very long, especially in the case of 
the Stilts. In the latter the bill is straight, whereas in the 
Avocets it is up-curved and awl-like. 
THE AVOCETS. GENUS RECURVIROSTRA. 
Recurvirostra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 256 (1766). 
Type, R. avocetta (Linn.). 
Four species of Avocets are known, and the genus is 
found over the temperate and tropical portions of both 
