THE STORY OF THE BIRDS . 
511 
tries. The male of the common avocet is characterized by the black upper 
surface of the head and hinder part of the neck, and the white innermost 
secondaries; the young birds in their first plumage have the dark parts of 
the plumage brown, and the secondaries barred with white. The total 
length of the bird is eighteen inches. Owing to drainage, the European 
breeding-places of the avocet are now restricted to certain islands off Den- 
SMALLER BUSTARD. WHITE IBIS. EUROPEAN BITTERN. GREAT BUSTARD. 
HORNED SCREAMER. DESERT GROUSE. CASSOWARY. 
mark and Holland, the marshes of Southern Spain, the delta of the Rhone, 
and the lagoons of the Black Sea; but to the eastwards it nests in Palestine, 
Persia, Turkestan, the southwest of Siberia, and also 1 in Africa. In winter 
these birds resort to India, China, and, more rarely, Japan; and they reach 
their European breeding-places in April and May, and depart in September. 
The North American avocet, ranging from the Great Slave Lake to Texas, 
