486 
PLOVER GROUP. 
with a deliberate step, which may be quickened into a run; and they fly straight 
but slowly, with the neck outstretched and the long legs extended beyond the tail. 
Ordinarily silent and far from shy, in the breeding-season these birds utter a cry 
resembling the syllables, hit, hot, hit, and are most assiduous in endeavouring to 
lure the intruder away from the vicinity of their nests. In India stilts breed in 
enormous numbers, laying most of their eggs in June, although in Spain they are 
at least a month earlier; one of the favourite haunts being some salt-works near 
Delhi, where the brine is distributed in shallow pools over acres of ground. The 
nest varies according to the nature of the locality, being more bulky in moist 
AVOCETS (£ nat. size). 
situations, and sometimes even floating on the water. The four eggs are pear- 
shaped, and of a huffish brown ground-colour, upon which are blackish brown 
streaks and blotches, with underlying markings of grey. 
Avocets. Although closely connected with the stilts by two aberrant 
species, it seems on the whole convenient to separate the still more 
graceful avocets as a genus, under the title of Recurvirostra, the sole distinctive 
character applicable to all the members being the more fully webbed feet. In the 
more typical forms, however, such as the common avocet (R. avocetta), the beak is 
strongly curved upwards at the extremity, the webbed feet are furnished with a 
small fiist toe, and the plumage of the upper-parts is pied. The connection with 
