OYSTER-CATCHER. 203 



seaweed, and in some cases with a selection of small pebbles 

 and broken shells (Plate 84). One scrape in light soil, two 

 inches deep, was lined with dead thrift ; another, on a pebble 

 ridge, was entirely lined with Patella shells, and one in turf 

 with bits of stick and a few shells of a small Helix. The most 

 eccentric surrounding wall I have seen was composed of the 

 bones of a rabbit and a Puffin. Three is the usual number of 

 the yellowish, blotched, or streaked eggs (Plate 80) ; they are 

 laid as a rule in May, and are not placed end to end. The 

 down of the newly hatched chick (Plate 86) is close and plushy, 

 light grey with darker stripes and mottles, down the centre of 

 the back, on the head, and stumpy wings. The bill is short and 

 dark, reddish at the base, and the legs blue-grey with a slight 

 fleshy tinge. In a few days the bill is dull orange, blackish at 

 the tip, in curious contrast with that of the adult, which is 

 orange with a lighter tip. The legs are browner. A half- 

 feathered young bird in the middle of July had the bill red at 

 the base, then yellow, and the tip black. The behaviour of birds 

 when guarding eggs or young, varies individually, but at the 

 least suspicion of danger the sitting bird slips silently away, and 

 the first evidence of the vicinity of a nest is the monotonous 

 ^ic^ pic, of the pair, standing on rocks, mounds, or walls some 

 distance apart. 



In summer the upper parts, except the lower back and upper 

 tail-coverts, a patch on the wing, and a small streak below the 

 eye, are black, as are the neck and throat ; these exceptions 

 and the rest of the under parts are white. In winter there is a 

 half collar of white on the throat and the sides of the neck are 

 also white, and this is still more noticeable in immature birds, 

 which are browner on the back and wings. The bill varies from 

 orange-red to vermilion, the colour of the narrow rim round 

 the blood-red eye. The legs are fleshy pink in summer, but 

 rather more livid in winter. Length, i6"5 ins. Wing, 975 ins. 

 Tarsus, i"8 ins. 



