RECIRVIROSTRA, Lin. Ste. AVOCET Bill very long, slender, feeble, depressed throughout its length, flexible, and recurved at the point, the upper mandible channelled on its surface, the under laterally ; nostrils on the surface of the bill linear and long ; legs long and slender, the three fore-toes united as far as the second articulation by a membrane, the hinder placed high up, and very short ; wings acuminate, the first quill the longest.
R. avocetta, Lin. &cc. Scooping Avocet, Prov. Scooper, Yelper, Picarini Crooked-bill, awl, &e. Varied with white and black. It is about the size of the lap-ving, but considerably taller, weighing thirteen ounces, and measuring in length from fifteen to eighteen inches. From the curvature and softness of its bill it can neither use it defensively, nor pick up with it any solid or sizeable prey. The bird is, accordingly, adapted to wading into the mud or ooze on sea-shores, or the banks of rivers, and to searching for the spawn of fish or of frogs, insects, &c. It is extremely vigilant, active, shy, and cunning, constantly on the alert, flitting about, chang ing its place of residence, and generally eluding the wiles of the fowler. In our continent, these birds appear to be partial to northern countries, which they quit on the ap proach of winter, and revisit in the spring. They are ob
served twice a-year in considerable numbers on the French and British coasts ; and they are known to breed in the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and in Romney Marsh in Kent. They are far from uncommon. in Zea land, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Siberia, and in several tracts of North America, extending as far north as Nova Scotia. In a small hole surrounded with grass, or merely scooped out in the sand, the female.lays two eggs about the size of those of a pigeon, and of a cinereous grey, sin gularly marked with deep brownish dark patches, of irre gular sizes and shapes, besides some subordinate mark ings of a dusky hue. When frightened from her nest, she counterfeits lameness, like the plovers; and when a flock is disturbed, they fly with their necks stretched out, and their legs extended behind, over the heads of the spectators, making a shrill noise, and uttering a yelping cry of twit, twit. Though their feet are almost palmated, they have been seldom observed to swim.
The R. Americana, rubricollie, and Orientalis, have. similar manners.