JL 2
A V O C E T .
Recurvirostra avocetta, Linn.
AYOCET.
RECURVIROSTRA AVOCETTA, Linn.
Recurvirostra avocetta, Linn. S. N. i. p. 256 (1766); Naum.
viii. p. 213, xiii. p. 245 ; Macg. iv. p. 306; Hewitson, ii.
p. 339; Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 299; Dresser, vii. p. 577.
Avocette a miqile noire, French; Avosette, German;
Atioceta, Spanish.
This singular and handsome bird was formerly a very
common summer visitor to many of the marshes of our
eastern and southern counties, but owing to drainage,
cultivation, and merciless persecution, it has long ceased
to breed in England, and may now be justly considered
as a rare bird in all parts of our islands. My own
acquaintance with the Avocet is confined to Southern
Europe; it appears in great numbers on the great
marshes of the lower Guadalquivir in April, and breeds,
for it can hardly be said to nest, on the vast expanses of
dry sand and mud on both sides of that famous river;
I have also met with it at Santander in November.
The eggs are four in number, of a yellowish-drab
ground-colour, thickly blotched and spotted with black;
many sittings are to be found on a comparatively small
space, and the clamour of the birds when disturbed at