694 THE BLACK OYSTER-CATCHER. 



SA\ I'", iluriiiy the iifsting season, the lilack Turnslune is as characteristic 

 of tlie baniacle-coNcred reefs off cmr Pacific shore as is tlie Black Oyster- 

 catcher in June. The birds move in little ccjiiipanies, cheered by rattling, piping 

 cries : and they seem to prefer the hiwest possible reaches of the rock above the 

 actual wash-line of the waves, where they ma\ be wetted by incessant spray. 

 When hushed into silence and immobility by the approach of a stranger, the 

 birds appear themselves like little else than bunches of sea-weed or knobs of 

 the somber reef; but when reassured as to the stranger's intent, they begin to 

 stir about and chatter. Now and then one of them runs at his fellows with 

 outstretched bill and neck, and a line scuffle of flight ensues. When they take 

 to wing, as they do h\ a C(jmmon flock impulse, the transformation in appear- 

 ance is a delight to the eye. Instead of a row of dull-colored clods, there ap- 

 pears a constant cyclorama of flashing whites, set ofif by variegating blacks. 



In summer this species enjoys a rather more southerly distribution than 

 morinclhi. being found as far south as Sitka. According to Nelson : "It breeds 

 among the brackish pools on Saint Michaels Island, and is found scattered over 

 the wet flats ever\ where. It is one of the commonest birds of this locality, its 

 sharp clear note breaking the silence wdierever one turns his steps among the 

 pools and marshy places. It has a habit of circling round the intruder, during 

 the nesting season, with a fine clear peeping cry like the syllables ivcct. wcct. 

 too-2i'ccl, as it moves restlessly about : now stopijing a moment on a sliglit knoll, 

 then running hastily along the edge of a neighboring pool, perhaps picking up 

 a scrap of food as it runs, and then it mounts on wing again and comes 

 careering about, evincing the liveliest di.stress at the invasion of its haunts." 



The Black Turnstone is at no time so great a wanderer as its ruddy 

 cousin. It does not frequent the interior, nor does it go further smith than 

 Lower California. Its range on Puget .Sound is chiefly limited to the islands 

 and rockv jjoints north of Port Townsend, altlio Suckley mentions its occur- 

 rence "in immense numbers," "on a small rock island nearly opjwsite Seattle." 

 probably Blakely Rock. He also found that they wintered sparingly along the 

 Straits of Juan de Fuca, where lie shot them in January, Februar}' and March. 



No. 283. 

 BLACK OYSTER-CATCHER. 



A. O. U. No. 287. Hsematopus bachmani And. 



Synonym. — Plumper. 



Description. — Adult: Head and neck slaty black; remaining plumage sooty 

 black, lightest (dark sooty brown) on hack; bill and eyelids vermilion; irides yel- 

 low; feet and legs pale old-rose or flesh-color; nails black. I in mature: Sooty 



