EUROPEAN OYSTER CATCHER 307 



and probably social excitement — that is, under all forms of strong 

 emotion except fear. Details are given of observed piping by large 

 parties, two pairs, threes (the commone.st form), " twos " and "ones." 



Another courtship activity recorded in the same paper is the slow- 

 butterflylike flight with the wing beats at about half the ordinary 

 pace carried out by a solitary bird. Coition is apparently preceded 

 hx no preliminary ceremony whatever, the initiative coming from the 

 male, the female standing quite still and giving no visible indication 

 of readiness to pair. For a fuller discussion on the origin and 

 meaning of the piping ceremony the reader i^s referred to the paper 

 by Huxley and Montague (1925). 



Nesting. — There is considerable variation in the nesting sites of 

 this species. Among sand dunes it is often to be met with on the 

 summit of a dune, a mere hollow in the sand. On shingle banks it 

 may be among pebbles, sometimes lined witli small white stones or 

 shells, obviously brought by the bird. Other nests are placed in 

 natural recesses of rock, on grass land, when at times quite a good- 

 sized nest is built of any wrack or rubbish available. While in many 

 cases the nest is placed close to the shore it is frequently found in 

 Scotland by the sides of the rivers far inland, and on the continent, 

 in level grassy meadows in the reclaimed marshes of Holland. Ex- 

 ceptionally nests have been recorded from a larch wood on an island, 

 among bracken, etc. 



Eggs. — The normal number of eggs is three, but two are also 

 commonly found, and in some districts sets of four are not at all 

 uncommon. Exceptionally five arid six eggs have been found together. 

 As is usually the case where three eggs are normal, they are oval 

 rather than pyriform in shape and in color are yellowish stone or 

 ochreous, boldly marked with spots, streaks, and scrawls of blackish 

 brown and some ashy shell marks. There are also variations with 

 warm rufous tinge in the ground color, or very rarely with a pale 

 bluish ground or even pure white. Some sets are boldly blotched 

 with sepia black. The measurements of 100 British eggs, made 

 by the writer, average 57 by 40.07 millimeters ; the eggs showing the 

 for extremes measure 70.1 by 37.4, 62.1 by 48.9, 51.6 by 40.4, and 62.6 

 by 35 millimeters. 



Young. — Incubation is carried on by both sexes, but probably 

 the female takes the greater share, and she has been observed to 

 i?it for three or four hours without changing. The period is esti- 

 mated at 21 days (Paynter), 23 to 24 days from finding full set 

 (W. Evans), and 24 days (Eaber). Probably the latter estimates 

 are more correct. The young when hatched remain a day or two in 

 the nest and are attended by their parents for at least five weeks 

 after hatching, according to J. M. Dewar (1908). R. H. Brown, 

 however, estimates it as about 29 days. 



