The Avocet — Recurvirostra Avocetta, Linnæus
If only the amasser of British killed specimens could be exterminated and the protection laws of this country more rigidly enforced, the Avocet might once more become a local breeding species in some of our counties. At present, however, a few birds arrive in our southern and eastern counties yearly, and it is to be feared that but few live to cross over to their breeding grounds in Holland. It used formerly to breed in considerable numbers in the marshes of Kent and Sussex, and along our flat eastern shores, but on the west and in the north it has never been more than an extremely rare and local visitor. The nest is placed on the mud or sand in an estuary, and at no great distance from the water, and consists merely of a very small collection of dry bents and grass. The eggs are three to four in number and pale clay in colour, speckled with black. The note is a clear “kluit,” generally uttered on the wing, and when disturbed these birds are very noisy. Their food consists of small insects and crustacea, which are captured by a sideways motion of its curiously shaped bill. It almost always feeds in shallow water, and when feeding walks along, slowly moving the bill from side to side on the surface of the mud. It usually flies high, and from its coloration and long neck is not unlike a Sheld-Duck when at a distance, but its clear and loud “kluit, kluit,” soon betrays its identity.
The sexes are alike; the head and back of the neck, scapulars, median and tertiary wing coverts and some of the primaries black. Rest of the plumage white. Bill black; legs pale blue. In the young the black portions are brownish. Length 10 in.; bill 3·2 in.; wing 8·5 in.