AVOOET.
r iG MYKAWYD, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH.
SC00PEE. COMMON AVOCET. SCOOPING AVOCET. CROOKED-BILL.
YE L PER. COBBLER'S-AWL DUCK.
Recmvirosira avoceiia, FLEMING. SELBY.
Recuruirostra avosetta, PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Recurnirosira. Recurvus—Crooked—bent.
Rostrum—The beak of a bird. Avocetta— ?
THIS bird, unique, as far at least as our country is concerned, in
the singularity of its appearance, is in Europe plentiful in the north
of Holland and on the shores of the Baltic, and also occurs in Sweden,
Russia, Holstcin, Hungary, Switzerland, Spain, France, and Italy. In
Africa it has been found from Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope;
and in Asia—in Siberia, Asia Minor, and India; the neighbourhood of
the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and in Tartary.
I n Yorkshire, two were formerly obtained on Skipwith Common,
near Selby; several have been met with near Spurn Point, and on
other parts of the coast, and the banks of the Humber.
Sir Thomas Brown has recorded that Avocets were common in his
time in Norfolk; and within the present generation, as many as twenty
are said to have been received within one month of one year, in
Leadenhall market. They used to frequent the marshes at Wmterton;
a pair were taken at Yarmouth, the 22nd. of April, 1852; two also in
the month of June, 1851. It used to be more common there on
Breydon, but has of late years become more rare. It has been known
to breed at Salthouse. One was obtained in the spring of 1837. They
were formerly also met with on the Durham coast. A specimen was
shot some years since at Croxby Lake, Lincolnshire, as the Rev. R. P .
Alington has informed me, by the late Theophilus Harneis, Esq., of
VOL. i v . 2 F