Also 7–8 avosetta, 9 avocetta. [a. F. avocette, ad. It. avosetta.] One of the Wading birds (Grallatores), allied to the Snipes and Stilts, specially distinguished by its flexible upturned beak.
[1674. Ray, Water Fowl, 94. Avosetta Italorum: Recurvirostra.]
1766. Pennant, Brit. Zool. (1812), II. 143. An Avoset that we shot weighed thirteen ounces. Ibid. (1771), Tour. Scotl. (1790), 13. Numbers of Avosettas, called there yelpers from their cry.
1863. Sat. Rev., 284. Drainage has banished the avoset … and the godwit from our eastern marshes.
1881. M. Watkins, in Academy, 27 Aug., 163/2. 1840 was the last year in which the avocet is known to have bred in England.
