Avocet, Or Avoset (Recurvirostra), a bird of the order of the grallatores. There is but one European and one American species, which are very closely connected, and would at first sight, by an unpractised eye, be pronounced identical. The bill is long, slender, and reflected upward at the extremity. The bird is webfooted, but does not swim easily or willingly, though it wades quite up to the breast, for which it is admirably qualified by its long legs, which are naked up to the head of the thigh. The pal-mated webs of its feet enable it to stand and run, without sinking, over the soft mud of the seashore. It feeds on aquatic animals, such as 'the smaller conchifers and mollusks, and on the spawn of fishes. The American avocet, recurvirostra Americana, is thus described by Giraud in his "Birds of Long Island ": Loral space white; neck and fore part of the breast reddish buff; lower parts, back and tail white; wings black, with a broad band of white formed by the tips of the secondary coverts. Lower portion of the tibia naked. Legs blue. Length 18 inches; wing, 9. A few breed at Egg Harbor, where they are known as the "blue-stocking." It builds its nest of sea-wrack and dried sedge among tufts of long grass by the edge of some salt pool.

It is common in all parts of the United States, especially in the fur countries.

Avocet.