. British birds in their haunts. Birds. THE AVOCET. EECURVIROSTRA AVOCETTA. General plumage white; crown, nape, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and primaries, black ; bill black; irides reddish brown ; feet bluish ash. Length eighteen inches. Eggs olive-brown, blotched and spotted with dusky. This bird has "become so rare, that having recently applied to two several collectors in Norfolk, once the head-quarters of the Avocet, to know if they could procure nie a speci- men, I was told by one that they were not seeii oftener than once in seven years—by the other, that it was very rare, and
. British birds in their haunts. Birds. THE AVOCET. EECURVIROSTRA AVOCETTA. General plumage white; crown, nape, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and primaries, black ; bill black; irides reddish brown ; feet bluish ash. Length eighteen inches. Eggs olive-brown, blotched and spotted with dusky. This bird has "become so rare, that having recently applied to two several collectors in Norfolk, once the head-quarters of the Avocet, to know if they could procure nie a speci- men, I was told by one that they were not seeii oftener than once in seven years—by the other, that it was very rare, and if attainable at all could not be purchased for less than five pounds. In Ray's time it was not unfrequent on the eastern maritime coasts. Sir Thomas Browne says of it: ^^Avoseta, called shoeing horn, a tall black and white bird, with a bill semicircularly rechning or bowed upward; so that it is not easy to conceive how it can feed; a summer mnrsh bird, and not unfrequent in marsh ; Pennant, writing of the same bird, says : " These birds. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Johns, C. A. (Charles Alexander), 1811-1874. London : Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1867
