29*8 CHARADRUD^.
on the wing; the legs and tons purplish flesh-colour; the
claws black.
The whole length is rather mom than sixteen inches.
From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, nine inches
and three-quarters: the first quill-feather about half an
inch longer than thé second, and the longest in the-wing.
. In the winter half-year, adult birds have, a white gorget
round the front and sides of the neek. This mark is assumed
in August, and borne through the winter, and over a great
portion, of the spring.. At this season the bill becomes horn-
coloured towards the tip,
Young birds of the year have the feathers of the back and
wings margined with brown, and some of them show but
little white on the throat dming. the first winter..-. $
In the downy nestling the upper :parts are dark grey,
tinged with buff; the head broadly mottled with black, the
throat sooty ,* a broad line of black down each side ofi the
back, and a broken line from the wings to the rump; underparts
white.
AVÖCET. 299
LIM1COLAS. &COLOPA CLDAi.
'' Regerver'ostRa ‘ AvoGe'tta, Hinnseus
THE
1 'B.eb'MvtTo strd d¥ol6eft(t. ""
Reourvirostra, ; Zmatewsi-.-^Beak very long,-' slender, weak, depressed
throughout its whole length., fl^jhle,;pomted, and .curving upwards ; th^upper
mandible grooved along the "upper v surface ; under mandible grooved" along the
side. Nostrils on the upp§? surface ef'tbif-beak, near its hase, linear, long^
Legs.slender, long, great p®rtion.of% the tibia» naked1; three: toes in front> hind
toe small, articnlatedjugh up on t^1^-tarsus,» th^anterior toes united as far as
the second articulation, by a membrane,, the margin ,o| which is concave. Wings
pointed; the first quill-father the longest in fh$ Wing. ’ ’
The Ayo^ET/is certainly a singular-looking bird, especially
in reference to--its beak, which is curved upwards, and; if
, ,5 Kecurmrostra XxocjMw, Einnastis, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12. i. p. 256
f?T Foe. cit.