EUROPEAN" OYSTER CATCHER 305 



The following dates of spring arrival are, however, available: 

 Alaska, Admiralty Island, April 17; Juneau, April 29; Forrester 

 Island, May 6 ; Bethel, May 12 ; Craig, May 15 ; and Nulato, May 16. 

 Dates of fall departure from Alaska are Nushagak, September 22; 

 Homer, September 2G; St. Lazaria Island, September 30; and 

 Wrangel, November 4. 



Casual records. — On August 15, 1912, a flock of 20 was observed at 

 Chaun Bay, northeastern Siberia (Thayer and Bangs). A specimen 

 in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences was pre- 

 sumed to have been obtained in India, but the occurrence has been 

 challenged (Hartert) on the basis that proof is lacking that the 

 specimen was actually there collected. The record accordingly is 

 eliminated for lack of evidence. 



Egg dates. — ^Alaska: 96 records. May 28 to July 5; 48 records, 

 May 31 to June 1. 



Family HAEMATOPODIDAE Oyster catchers 



HAEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS Linnaeus 

 EUROPEAN OYSTER CATCHER 



ContrWuted bij Francis Charles Robert Jourdain 

 HABITS 



This is another species whose claim to a place in the American list 

 rests on its occurrence in Greenland, but, rather curiously, all the 

 occurrences are recorded from the west coast and not from the east 

 side, as might have been expected. Herbert Winge, in 1898, was 

 able to record six specimens obtained at various localities between 

 1844 and 1898, as well as one reported in the autumn of 1893. As it 

 is a breeding species in Iceland, its occurrence in Greenland from 

 time to time may well be expected. 



Courtship. — As the oyster catcher is an extremely striking bird, 

 with its strongly contrasted plumage of black and white, red bill, 

 and flesh-colored feet, and is also by no means scarce and very noisy, 

 its breeding habits challenge attention, and a good deal has been 

 recorded on the subject by Edmund Selous, Seton Gordon, William 

 Farren, and others. It is on the whole a sociable species, and one 

 peculiar characteristic is that in the middle of the breeding season 

 it is not unusual to find three birds together, either resting or in 

 flight, without any open signs' of hostility. According to Selous, 

 these associations are often composed of two males and one female, 

 and as he observed them together not only in the early part of the 

 pairing time but also late in the season, it would seem that, except 



