H.EMATOPODID.-E — THE OYSTER CATCHERS — H.EMATOPUS. 113 



basal half of the secondaries, upper tuil-coverts, sides of the riunp, basal portion of the tail, and 

 the entire lower parts pure white. Bill (in life) rich vermilion, most intense on middle third, 

 basal third more scarlet, the tip yellowish ; eyelids rich vermilion ; iris bright yellow ; legs and 

 feet pale dull fleshy white.i Voumj: Head and neck dusky black, the pileuni and cheeks speckled 

 with (lull iiilvous, and the feathers surrounding the base of the bill whitish ; ujiper parts grayish 

 brown, each feather widely margined with pale fulvous or didl biili'. Otherwise much like the 

 adult, but upper tail-coverts tipped with buff, bill brownish, iris brown, and feet dull livid grayish. 

 Doirnij young: Head and neck dull light cinereous, finely mottled with darker, and with a narrow 

 postocular line of black ; rest of upper parts light fulvous gray, finely mottled with darker, and 

 relieved by two narrow stripes of black, which extend, parallel to one another, from the upper part 

 of the back to the rump. Lower parts, from the jugulum back, inmiaculate white. Bill dusky, 

 the basal half of the mandible dull orange ; iris brown ; legs and feet pale dull flesh-color. 



Total length, 17 to 21 inches ; extent, 32 to 36. Wing, 9.75 to 11.00 ; culmen, 3.00 to 3.70 ; 

 tarsus, 2.05 to 2.55 ; niddle toe, 1.20 to 1.55. 



Specimens from nearly all parts of the range of the species have been compared. There is 

 little, if any, variation in colors, but the dimensions vary with the individual. Two Chilian 

 examples have the smallest bill, the culmen measuring respectively 3.00 and 3.25, the greatest 

 depth of the bill, forward of the nostril, being .48. In an example from Isabella Island, Western 

 Mexico, these measurements are 3.10 and .55. In a specimen from Yucatan, the de^^th of the bill 

 is scarcely .45, the culmen being the same length as in the preceding. 



On the Atlantic coast the American Oyster Catcher occurs in more or less abun- 

 dance, from Massachusetts to Central America. Like the II. ostralegvs of Europe, 

 it probably wanders inland, especially up the inlets and estuaries of the Carolinas. 

 Wilson mentions having received a stuffed specimen shot from a flock that had been 

 first discovered on a beach near the entrance of Boston Harbor, and in the summer 

 of 1837 a pair of these birds were procured at Marshfield by Daniel Webster and 

 presented to the Boston Natural History Society. It was then no uncommon thing 

 to see specimens of this bird on sale in the Boston market; but this seldom or never 

 occurs now, and the bird for many years, so far as known, has been a stranger to 

 Massachusetts. Mr. Boardman informs me that it is of occasional but rare occur- 

 rence in the vicinity of Calais, Me., and that a single specimen has been taken on 

 Grand Menau. 



An Oyster Catcher was observed by Mr. Salvin at the moutli of the Kagualete 

 Eiver, and he regarded it as being referable to this species ; he also mentions meeting 

 with it on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Dr. Cooper states that he obtained two 

 specimens of this bird — one at >San Diego, the other on Santa Barbara Island, in 



1 Fresh colors of several specinieiis killed in the breeding-season at Cobb's Island, coast of Yirginin. 

 VOL. I. — 15 



