660 



BIRDS OF INDIA. 



from the breast, white ; a broad wing-band formed by the greater 



coverts also white. 



Bill orange yellow, dusky anteriorly ; irides fine crimson red ; 



eyelids orange, with a small space of the lower eyelid plumed and 



white; feet dull pinkish-red. Length 16 to 17 inches; wing 10; 



tail 4 ; bill at front 4 ; tarsus 2. 



Young birds are less pure black, with pale edges to the feathers ; 



and, after the first moult, they are said to have a white collar 



all round the neck. 



The Oyster-catcher is found both on the East and West coasts 



of India, most abundant perhaps in the more rocky West coast, 



and it is only a winter visitant. I have always found it remarkably 

 shy and difficult to procure. It is far from rare near Tellicherry, 

 •where I resided for some time. " ^ 



It inhabits most of the Sea-coasts of Europe, and is said to feed 

 chiefly on molluscs, and to be able to open bivalves with its trun- 

 cated bill; it feeds also on worms and various sea insects, &c. It 

 nidificates on the ground on shingly beaches by the sea side, or on 

 the banks of rivers, hiying four rather large eggs, of a dull green- 

 ish-yellow, with dark brown and grey marks and spots. Some 

 American species are recorded as not laying more than two eggs. 



Several species are recorded, chiefly from America, one or two 

 from Australia, and one from Africa. Some of the genus are 

 nearly all black, and are separated as Melanibyx. One of these is 

 Australian, l)ut is also found in North-eastern Asia according to 

 Pallas. Bonaparte places next this genus the Red-billed Curlew 

 ( Ibidorliynchus Struthersii. ) 



The family Chionid^, Bonap., placed by Gray among the 

 Rasores, certainly should be placed not far from the Plovers ; and, 

 as we have seen, Blyth even associates with them the Oyster- 

 catchers. It comprises the genera Thinocoris and Attagen, and 

 the still more unique form, Chionis. The two former inhabit the 

 Andes, have the bill short and compressed, somewhat rasorial 

 nares, pointed wings, with long tertiaries, a short, ample, and 

 rounded tail, the tarsus short and reticulated. They have a 

 very rasorial aspect, it must be confessed, especially Attarjen, but 

 the whole of their character and their mode of flight, show them 



