in ornithology; a genus belonging to the order of grallæ of Linnæus, and that of palmipedes of Pennant and Latham. The bill is long, tubulated, bent back, sharp and flexible at the point. The feet are webbed, and furnished with three toes forwards, and a short one behind. Mr Latham notes of this genus three species, viz. the Avocetta, or the one commonly known, the Americana, and the Alba. This last, it is probable, has some affinity to the Americana. The recurvirostra avocetta is about the size of a lapwing in body, but has very long legs. The substance of the bill is soft, and almost membranous at its tip; it is thin, weak, slender, compressed horizontally, and incapable of defence or effort. These birds are variegated with black and white, and during the winter are frequent on the eastern shores of Great Britain. They visit also the Severn, and sometimes the pools of Shropshire. They feed on worms and insects, which they scoop out of the sand with their bills. They lay two eggs, white, with a greenish hue, and large spots of black; these eggs are about the size of a pigeon's. They are found also in various parts of the continent of Europe, in Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, but they are not numerous. They are also found in Siberia, but oftener about the salt lakes of the Tartarian desert, and about the Caspian sea. They are found likewise on the coasts of Picardy in France in April and November, and at Orleans, but rarely. In breeding-time they are very plentiful on the coasts of Bas Poitou. They do not appear to wander farther south in Europe than Italy. Whether from timidity or address, the avocet shuns snares, and is not easily taken. The American avocet is rather larger and longer than the last. The bill is similar, and its colour black: the forehead is dusky white; the head, neck, and upper part of the breast, are of a deep cream-colour: the lower parts of the neck behind white; the back is black, and the under parts from the breast pure white: the wings are partly black, partly white, and partly ash-coloured. These birds inhabit North America, and were found by Dampier in Shark's Bay, on the coast of New Holland. See Plate CCCCXXXV.

The recurvirostra, or colopax alba, is about 14 inches and a quarter long, its colour white, the inferior coverts of its wings dusky, its bill orange, its legs brown. Edwards remarks, that the bill of this bird is bent upwards, as in the avocet; its bill black at the tip, and orange the rest of its length; all the plumage is white, except except a tint of yellowish on the great quills of the wing and of the tail. Edwards supposes, that the whitenss is produced by the cold climate of Hudson's Bay, from which he received it, and that they resume their brown feathers during the summer. It appears that several species of this bird have spread further into America, and have even reached the southern provinces; for Sloane found our third species in Jamaica; and Fernandez seems to indicate two of them in New Spain, by the names chiquatatotl and elotototl; the former being like our woodcock, and the latter lodging under the stalks of maize.

A bird of this kind, Mr Latham says, was sent from Hudson's Bay, and from the figure, has every appearance of an avocet; however, in Edwards's plate, the toes appear cloven to the bottom; a circumstance seeming to overturn the supposition, and only to be authenticated when other specimens shall have come under the eye of the well-informed naturalist.