HiEMATOPODID^ — THE OYSTER CATCHERS — ILEMATOPUS. Ill 



The changes of plumage with age are thus described by Macgillivray : "After the first moult 

 the black parts of the plumage are tinged with brown, more especially the quills and tail. There 

 is an obscure half-ring of grayish-white across the fore part of the neck, the tips of the white 

 feathers being black. The legs are pale livid gray, the claws brown, whitish at the base ; the 

 iris crimson ; and the bill as in the adult, but a little more dusky toward the end. It ajipears to 

 me that the younger birds only have the white marks on the neck, and that these gradually 

 disappear each successive moult, until in very old birds there exist only faint indications of 

 them, the feathers being merely whitish at the base. The chin, which is slightly mottled with 

 white in the young birds, becomes at length pure black." 



The National Museum possesses but a single European specimen of this species, an adult male 

 from Pomerania. Besides this, however, there are two examples (an adult male and female) from 

 Ning Po, China, and one from Xew Zealand. None of these possess the slightest trace of the 

 white markings described by Macgillivray, the entire neck being glossy black. 



The Pied Oyster Catcher from New Zealand and that from China have both been, separated from 

 H. ostmkgus, the former as H. longirostris, Vieillot, the latter as H. osculans, Swinhoe. With 

 the specimens before us, however, we are unable to appreciate any differences beyond slight ones 

 of proportions, the measurements being as follows : — 



The differences of measurements indicated above are not so great as have been found in a 

 larger series of H. palliatus, and we are unable to discover any differences of plumage. 



Tlie Oyster Catcher of Europe is of occasional occurreuce in Iceland and Greenland, 

 and claims, on tliat account alone, to be included among the birds of our fauna. It is 

 found along the entire Atlantic sea-coast of Europe, is to be seen around the shores 

 of Great Britain, from the Scilly Islands to the Shetland, and is common in Denmark, 

 Sweden, and on the west shores of Norway, from spring to autumn. Pennant states 

 that this species is to be found along the northern shores of Russia and Siberia, 

 where it breeds on the great Arctic flats, and that it even extends its range to 

 Kamtschatka. 



This species also inhabits all the coasts of the southern portion of Europe, passing 

 to North Africa by the line of Italy and Sicily. It is included by Temminck among 

 the birds of Japan, and by Reinhardt among those of Greenland, on the strength of 

 three specimens — one sent from Julianehaab in 1847, another from Godthaab in 

 1851, and a third found in a collection from NTenortalik. Mr. Alfred Newton states 

 that it is more common in the south than in the north of Iceland, and Eaber consid- 

 ered it resident throughout the year, as it remained in large flocks during the winter 

 in the south. It is most abundant on the sea-coast, but w^as found by Herr Freyer on 

 some of the inland waters. 



In Great Britain and Ireland it is a common and a w^ell-known species. It appears 

 to prefer the sandy shores of bays and wide inlets bounded with banks of shingle 

 and other localities favorable for the production of the various kinds of mollusks 

 upon Avhich it principally feeds. Its peculiar beak, truncated and wedge-like in its 

 shape, and having a sharp vertical edge, is admirably well adapted for insertion 

 betw^een the two portions of bivalve shells and for forcing them open. The Oyster 

 Catcher is also able wath this powerful beak to detach univalve shells and limpets 

 from the surface of rocks, and does this easily and rapidly. Its food appears to be 

 mollusca of all kinds, worms, Crustacea, and marine insects. 



