AMERICAN OYSTER CATCHER 313 



narrow black line runs from the bill, through the eye and to the 

 nape ; a broad black band extends from behind the wing to the tail ; 

 below this and the dusky throat the under parts are white. When 

 very young, the bill is decidedly hooked at the extreme tips of both 

 mandibles. In a young bird, about one-quarter grown, the primaries 

 are bursting their sheaths and the white greater coverts are grow- 

 ing; the Juvenal plumage is appearing on the back, scapulars and 

 lesser wing coverts ; these new feathers are " sepia," broadly tipped 

 with " cinnamon " ; the crown is " bister," faintly tipped with " cin- 

 namon " ; the white plumage is coming in on the breast. 



In full Juvenal plumage, when the young bird is nearly fully 

 grown, these colors are somewhat paler; the feathers of the back, 

 scapulars and wing coverts are " Saccardo's umber," tipped with 

 " clay color " or " cinnamon-buff " ; the crown, sides of the head, and 

 upper chest are dark " bister," tipped with " cinnamon-buff " ; the 

 chin and throat are mottled with sepia and buffy; the upper tail 

 coverts are white, tipped with buffy ; the tail is dark " bister," tipped 

 with " cinnamon-buff " ; and the under parts are white. By the end 

 of July the buffy tips on the mantle have nearly disappeared by wear. 

 Early in September the post-juvenal molt begins; this involves the 

 body plumage, but not all the scapulars and wing coverts and not 

 the tail. 



The first winter plumage is like the adult, the head and neck being 

 " fuscous " or " Chaetura black " and the mantle " deep mouse gray." 

 Young birds can be distinguished by a somewhat slenderer bill and 

 by the retained and worn ju venal wing coverts, scapulars, and tail 

 feathers. At the first prenuptial molt they become fully adult. 



Adults have a partial prenuptial molt in late winter and early 

 spring, involving the body plumage and most of the scapulars and 

 wing coverts, and a complete postnuptial molt in late summer and 

 fall. 



Food. — Audubon (1840) says of the feeding habits of the oyster 

 catcher : 



I have seen it probe the sand to the full length of its bill, knock off limpets 

 from the rocks on the coast of Labrador, using its weapon sideways and in- 

 sinuating it between the rock and the shell like a chisel, seize the bodies of 

 gaping oysters on what are called in the Southern States and the Floridas 

 " raccoon oyster beds," and at other times take up a " razor handle " or solen, 

 and lash it against the sands until the shell was broken and the contents 

 Swallowed. Now and then they seem to suck the sea urchins, driving in the 

 mouth, and introducing their bill by the aperture, without breaking the shell ; 

 again they are seen wading up to their bodies from one place to another, seizing 

 on shrimps and other Crustacea, and even swirdmiug for a few yards, should 

 this be necessary to enable them to remove from one bank to another without 

 flying. Small crabs, fiddlers, and sea worms are also caught by it, the shells of 

 which, in a broken state, I have found in its gizzard in greater or less quantity. 

 Frequently, while on wet sea beaches, it pats the sand to force out the insects ; 



