SEA-PIE ^7 



surface gloss, they show a ground-colour varying from olive-grey to 

 olive-buff, with bold spots and blotches of rich brown or black, mainly 

 massed at the larger end, and exceedingly faint underlying markings of 

 pale inky purple. The fact that more than sixty wire-worms, together 

 with a couple of beetles, have been taken from the stomach of a single 

 dotterel, sufficiently proves what valuable service a flock of these 

 beautiful birds must render to the agriculturist. A " trip " is the 

 fowler's term for a flock of dotterel. 



Sea-Pie or Although the large and strikingly coloured shore- 

 Oystep-Catehep ^''"'^ known either as the sea - pie or oyster- 

 (Hffimatopus catcher, together with the other members of the 

 ostpalegus). same genus, is frequently regarded as the sole 

 representative of a special subfamily group of 

 the Charadriidae, it seems preferable to make that group — the 

 Haematopodinae — include the stilt and the avocet, together with the 

 so-called ibis-bill of India, although it cannot be definitely asserted that 

 all these four birds are very intimately related. All the four genera 

 have the beak long, and the scaling on the lower part of the leg of the 

 network-type, while none of them has a distinctive breeding-plumage. 

 Moreover, with the exception of the ibis-bill, the plumage is pied black 

 and white ; and the eggs of the three European genera are singularly 

 alike, those of the Indian genus being apparently still unknown. The 

 sea-pie belongs to a genus, containing about a dozen species, with a 

 cosmopolitan distribution, characterised by the straight, compressed, 

 stout beak, which is longer than the lower section of the leg, and 

 the absence of the hind -toe. The range of the European species 

 includes the sea-coasts (to which this bird is chiefly confined) of the 

 greater part of Europe and Asia, it being very doubtful whether the 

 Chinese and Japanese sea-pie can be regarded as anything more 

 than a local race. In winter it visits the shores of the Mediterranean, 

 the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, extending in Africa as far 

 south as Mozambique. Its breeding-range reaches as far north as the 

 North Cape and the lower courses of the great Siberian rivers, and 

 likewise includes the shores of the Caspian and Black Seas. In Great 

 Britain the oyster-catcher is to be found all round the coasts, breeding 

 chiefly in the north of England and Scotland, but also in the Scilly 

 Islands and a few other southern localities, as well as in Anglesey and 

 Carnarvon. In Ireland, where it is likewise abundant and resident 

 throughout the year, it is reported to breed chiefly on the surrounding 

 islands, more especially those of the northern and western coasts. 



