436 GRALLATORES. 



limpets^ worms^ Crustacea, and small fislies. Wlien 

 the mud-banks are covered by tlie tide, they move 

 to a short distance inland, and pick up slugs and 

 insects in the meadows. Their eggs are laid in a 

 slight depression among the shingle above high- 

 water mark; but on rocky shores they make an 

 attempt at a nest by collecting a few blades of grass 

 or scraps of seaweed. They lay three or four eggs, 

 and the young are able to run after breaking the 

 shell. They are sometimes called " Sea Pies.^^ 



The only species is- — 



The Pied Oyster-catcher (Hcp.matopus ostralegns). 

 This singular bird, although nowhere numerous, inha- 

 bits almost every sea-shore, both on the Old and New 

 Continent, but is never found iuland. It is the only one 

 of its genus hitherto discovered, and from the conforma- 

 tion of its pai-ts one might almost be led to suppose that 

 it had borrowed the eye of the Pheasant, the legs and 

 feet of the Bustard, and the bill of the Woodpecker. 

 During the summer the Oyster-catchers frequent the 

 sandy sea-beach of all parts of the Atlantic coast, roving 

 about in small parties of two or three pairs together. 

 They are extremely shy, and, except about the season of 

 breeding, will seldom allow a person to approach within 

 gunshot. They walk along the shore in a watchful, 

 stately manner, at times probing it with their long 

 M^edge-like bills in search of shellfish. The small crabs, 

 called "fiddlers," that burrow at the bottom of inlets, 

 are frequently the prey of the Oyster-catchers, as also are 

 limpets, mussels, and cockles. The former it can hitch 

 from the rocks with great certainty by an oblique tap 

 with its bill. Bivalve shells, when closed, it opens by 

 striking them at the hinge, and in the case of the cockle 

 by holding the shell steadily with its foot and wrenching 

 with its bill, as with a crowbar. 



It is said that this bird frequents oyster-beds and 

 watches the opening of the shells, that it may drag out 

 the unfortunate mollusks, and for this purpose its bill 

 seems very well adapted. This account is, however, 

 contradicted by dwellers on the coast, who state that 

 the bird does not resort to the oyster-beds, but is always 



