Avocet
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Avocet. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
av'o-set, a wading bird resembling the sandpiper. It is a native of North America , Europe, Asia, and Africa. The avocet is noticeable for a slender, upcurved bill and webbed feet. The American species, about sixteen inches in length, is an inland bird with a cinnamon colored head and neck, and having a white back, tail, and underparts. Portions of the wings are black. It has stilt-like, long, wading legs, and uses its bill in a peculiar manner. It wades rapidly in muddy water and swings the upturned end of its bill to and fro, sidewise like a scythe, searching on the bottom for snails, crayfish, etc. It has powerful wings, often used for swimming. The avocet nests in bare marshy places, and lays three to four pale olive, chocolate-spotted eggs. See Bird 2026 Editor's Note: The elegant, upturned-billed avocet became the very emblem of British bird conservation: it had vanished as a British breeding bird, then returned during the Second World War when flooded coastal defenses made new marshes. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds adopted it as its logo, a symbol of species brought back. (Ed: BR 2026-07-07)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or AVOSET, the English name of a genus of birds, with their feet so webbed that they might seem to belong to the natatores (swimmers), but which, by the other parts of their structure, are placed in the family scolopacidæ (snipes), and the sub-family totaninæ tattlers). Their great peculiarity is a ( long, feeble bill, curved upward, with which they explore the sand for prey. Recurvirostra avocetta is a British bird. It was formerly abundant in the fenny districts, but is now rare. R. americana differs from it by having a red cap; and there are a few other foreign species,