Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/253

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The Avocet, (Recurvirostra Avocetta).

 Little Bittern.—The general cultivation of waste lands, and the drainage of extensive pieces of water (the natural consequences of an increasing population and an improved system of agriculture), are gradually banishing from the interior of the county most of the scarcer wading and swimming birds, and has even rendered many, which were once numerous, comparatively rare.

I have therefore much pleasure in recording the occurrence of the little bittern (Botaurus minutus) in Sussex. The specimen to which I refer is an adult male, and was shot on the 7th of last May near Pulborough, on the banks of a pond abounding in aquatic plants, in the grounds of the Rev. Mr. Austin, the Rector of that parish, through whose kindness the bird has since come into my possession.

Avocet and Spoonbill.—Few persons have inspected a good collection of British birds, even in a cursory manner, or turned over the leaves of an illustrated work on Ornithology, without having noticed the singular form of the beak of the avocet (Recurvirostra Avocetta). I well remember, while yet a child, how strongly my attention was arrested by the admirable figure of this bird in my favorite Bewick, and