SEA-PIE 79 



tide-marks, where concealment is easy, being some of the favourite 

 haunts of the species. Fields or meadows near the sea, as well as 

 mud-flats and the lower parts of river-valleys are likewise the resort 

 of the sea-pie, which may be seen singly, in pairs, or in small or (more 

 rarely) large parties. During the breeding-season the members of a 

 pair keep to themselves, the cocks doing sentry-duty during the three 

 weeks of incubation. The inland lochs of Scotland are some of the 

 breeding-places. Although there can be no doubt that the powerful 

 compressed beak of the sea-pie is admirably adapted to prise open the 

 valves of mussels, to detach limpets from their hold on rocks, or to 

 extract the luscious whelk from its shell, there may be some hesitation 

 in admitting that it is sufficiently strong to wrench open a full-grown 

 oyster ; and some confirmation of this is afforded by stories of oyster- 

 catchers having been found with their beaks held fast in the vice-like grip 

 of these bivalves. As a matter of fact, the name oyster-catcher -was 

 originally applied to an American species, and it is certain that the 

 English species does not eat oysters. In addition to molluscs, various 

 kinds of shrimps, crabs, etc., contribute largely to the diet of the sea-pie. 

 The nest, as a rule, is a small hollow scraped in the sand between the 

 shingle and broken shells which strew the beach above high-water level ; 

 and it appears that several such holes are frequently excavated before 

 one is found suitable to the taste of the prospective parents. In this 

 hollow, after it has been lined with small pebbles or fragments of cockle 

 and other shells, the female deposits in April or May her three eggs, 

 which measure from a little more than 2 to rather over 2^ inches in 

 length. They have a ground-colour varying from clay-brown to stone 

 and pale greenish olive, and are marked with blotches, lines, or scribblings 

 of chocolate-brown, with underlying spots of purplish grey. Occasion- 

 ally, as in a nest at Blakeney, Norfolk, in 1907, four eggs are laid, 

 and it is stated that in such instances one in the clutch differs from the 

 other three. The extreme wariness of the oyster-catcher renders it a 

 difficult bird to shoot ; while the remarkable resemblance presented by 

 eggs and young alike to their surroundings are further safeguards for 

 the preservation of the species. 



The great majority of the mussels attacked by the oyster-catcher 

 are opened on the dorsal border of the shell, where the valves are 

 gaping, by the bird thrusting its beak into the aperture, and then using 

 it as a lever, at the same time severing the adductor muscles. If one 

 of the valves be fractured in the process, the lever action becomes 

 unnecessary. About nine per cent are opened on the ventral border, 

 where the aperture for the byssus or " beard " renders the molluscs 



