THE OYSTER CATCHER 243 



betray so much solicitude on behalf of their families. 

 Nesting as they do on the banks of burns and rivers, 

 floods during the month of May not infrequently play 

 havoc with the eggs of the Mussel Pickers. In the Dee 

 valley the spate of 1913 must have washed away thousands 

 of their eggs, and an equal amount of damage was done 

 on the Spey and its tributaries in 1914. Though the latter 

 spate was experienced as early as the first week in May, 

 very few of the birds laid second clutches of eggs, and 

 were seen consorting together either in pairs or in small 

 companies. 



The Oyster Catchers of the Fame Islands, on the other 

 hand, would appear to be more determined to rear a family 

 than their relations of the Spey valley, for as late as 

 August I have seen them still brooding on eggs. 



During the nesting season the Mussel Pickers are the 

 most restless of birds, and what sleep they require is 

 snatched at odd moments throughout the day. Through 

 the whole of the short June night the birds may be heard 

 calling restlessly from some frequented spot near the river, 

 or the regular cries of an individual flying unseen over- 

 head carry far across the glen, wrapped in deep twilight. 



During the nesting season the Oyster Catchers are 

 sociable birds, and it is rare to find a pair nesting quite by 

 themselves. A favourite site is an island in midstream 

 on which grows short heather intermixed with pebbles. 

 Here a number of birds may be nesting in a comparatively 

 small area. They are quite sensible to the fact that the 

 river is a barrier to any intruder, and they rarely leave 

 their nests if a person walks along the river-bank only 

 fifty yards or so distant. 



One of the most curious nesting-places of an Oyster 

 Catcher was the permanent way of the Highland Rail- 

 way, the bird laying her eggs actually between one set of 

 metals. A train passing at full speed over the adjoining set 



