700 



THE BLACK OYSTER-CATCHER. 



off" the birds cause the rocks to resound witli tlieir strident cries, and if there 

 are neiglibors, tliese join forces with the immediately besieged ones until our 

 ears ache. 



Left to themseh'es. the l)ir(ls are nn Ouakers, and the antics of courtship 

 are botli noisv'and amusing. .\ certain duet, especially, consists of a series of 

 awkward bowings and bendings in which the neck is stretched to the utmost 

 and arched over stiffly into a ])Ose as grotesque as one of Cruikshank's draw- 

 ings, — the whole to an accoiupaniment of amorous clucks and wails. 



The eggs of the Black Oyster-catcher, normally three in number, are uften- 

 est placed in the hollow of a bare rock, lined with a pint or so of rtjck-fjakes, 

 laborioush' gathered. Occasionallv bits r)f shell, especially the calcareous 

 plates of the goose barnacle, are addtd b\- wa\' of adornment. Now and then 

 the wader emulates the gull and prepares a careful lining of grasses. One 

 such nest with three eggs I passed repeatedly, on Carroll, languidly supposing 

 it to be a gull's until Professor Jones exclaimed over it. 



For a nesting site the u])per reaches of barren reefs or shoulders are 

 chosen, but on the smaller rocks, where the waders have exclusive rights, the 



From a Plwtograftli, Copyright, igoS, i>.v U'. L. Vawson. 



A H.\KD CR.'\DI,E. 



NEST OK BLACK OYSTER-CATCHER ON DESTRUCTION ISLAND. 



