PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. 159 



Young. — The young leave the nest soon after emerging 

 from the e^, and conceal themselves among the stones or 

 herbage, in the manner of those of the Lapwing. At first 

 the head, neck, back, wings, and tail are covered with a 

 mottled down of a dull brown colour, with greyish-white 

 tips. The parts that are to be white have the down 

 greyish-white, tipped with pale brown. The down on the 

 tail is very long, brown above, white beneath. The bill is 

 yellowish-brown to the middle, then greyish-white, the end 

 dusky. The iris blackish-brown. The feet are of a livid 

 grey, the toes darker, the claws greyish-white at the base, 

 light brown at the end. The bill, although much shorter, 

 is of the same general form as in the adult, but it is much 

 less compressed toward the end ; both mandibles are pointed, 

 and the upper, which extends a little beyond the other, has 

 the tip slightly decimate. The young do not for many days 

 betake themselves to the rocks or open sands, and therefore 

 must be fed by the old birds, and that plentifully, for 

 towards the period of their being fully fledged they are 

 usually excessively fat. When fledged, the general colour 

 of the dark parts is deep chocolate-brown, the feathers 

 slightly margined with yellowish-red ; the breast, belly, 

 greater part of the back, half of the tail, and its coverts, are 

 white. The bill is more tinged with orange, but the feet 

 are nearly as above described, 



Progress toward Maturity. — 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 greyish-white across the fore part of the neck, the tips of 

 the white feathers being black. The legs are pale livid 

 grey, the claws brown, whitish at the base ; the iris crimson ; 

 and the bill as in the adult, but a little more dusky towards 

 the end. It appears to me that the younger birds only have 

 the white marks on the neck, and that these gradually dis- 

 appear 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 young birds, becomes at length pure black. 



