364 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



along the coast from Maryland to the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 being then abundant on the shores of the Floridas, may be 

 considered a constant resident in the United States. At the 

 approach of spring, it removes toward the middle States, 

 where, as well as in North Carolina, it breeds. It seems scarcer 

 between Long Island and Portland, Maine, where you again 

 see it, and whence it occurs all the way to Labrador, in which 

 country I found that several were breeding in the month of 

 July. ... In Labrador, I met with it farther from the open 

 sea than in any other part, yet always near salt-water. . . . 

 On the coast of Labrador, and in the Bay of Fundy, it lays its 

 eggs on the bare rock. When the eggs are on sand, it seldom 

 sits on them during the heat of the sun; but in Labrador, it 

 was found sitting as closely as any other bird. Here, then, is 

 another instance of the extraordinary difference of habit in 

 the same bird under different circumstances. It struck me so 

 much that had I not procured a specimen in Labrador, and 

 another in our Middle Districts, during the breeding season, 

 and found them on the closest examination to be the same, 

 I should perhaps have thought the birds different. Every- 

 where, however, I observed that this bird is fond of places 

 covered with broken shells and drifted sea-weeds or grasses, 

 as a place of security for its eggs, and where, in fact, it is no 

 very easy matter to discover them." 



This is not hearsay evidence. Audubon saw these things 

 with his own eyes, for he says again: "I have seen it probe 

 the sand to the full length of its bill, knock off limpets from 

 the rocks on the coast of Labrador, using its weapon sideways 

 and insinuating it between the rock and the shell like a chisel." 

 The mere fact that the Oyster-catcher has disappeared since 

 then from Labrador, Nova Scotia and all New England should 

 not in any way discredit Audubon's statement. We do not 

 allow its disappearance from Long Island and the middle 

 States to discredit the evidence that it once was found there. 

 Even without Audubon's testimony there is presumptive 

 evidence that the bird once bred here. Wilson asserts that 

 "though nowhere numerous, it inhabits every sea-shore." 

 Giraud (1844) says that on Long Island it is rather scarce, 



