BIRDS OF SHETLAND 



It may here be noted that the accepted names 

 of both these birds are singularly inappropriate. 

 Why a species which merely feeds, in common 

 with other birds of the coast, partly on molluscs 

 of various descriptions, should be specifically 

 designated oyster-catcher, is difficult to see. 

 Further, in its most active movements, the oyster 

 hardly requires " catching," and it is so locally 

 distributed that the vast majority of the birds 

 have probably never seen one. Of the ringed 

 plover, or dotterel, the word dotterel is entirely 

 misleading, and the black markings which form 

 a broad shield on the upper breast, and extend 

 in a faint line to the neck, can only be termed a 

 ring by a considerable straining of terms. Sea- 

 pie, on the other hand, is a vivid word-picture of 

 the one, giving in six letters its haunt and its 

 characteristic appearance ; whilst sandy-loo iden- 

 tifies the second at a glance, combining as it does 

 the bird's habitat with its familiar note. 



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