107 
BGS. SOunsunius GALEICUS <4) .6 6 ari aeo es VOl. [Vy Pl. XLII: 
CREAM-COLOURED CouURSER. 
Quite an accidental visitor to the British Islands. 
Genus H=Martorus. 
Although not very numerous in species, there is scarcely any 
country on the face of the globe where this form is not represented. 
In the southern hemisphere, at Cape Horn in America, the Cape of 
Good Hope in Africa, in the southernmost portion of Tasmania and in 
New Zealand, a bird of this form is certain to be seen, while in the 
opposite hemisphere they are nearly as constant. These birds are 
commonly known by the misnomer of Oyster-catchers. 
264. Hmmatorpus ostRaLteeus . . . . . . Vol. LY. Pl. XLV. 
OYSTER-CATCHER. 
A resident species round our coasts. 
Genus GLAREOLA. 
An isolated form among the Plovers. The six or seven species 
known are all confined to the Old World. Their chief food consists 
of insects, which they capture on the wing, after the manner of the 
Swallow. 
In speaking of an allied species (G. melanoptera), Mr J. H. 
Gurney, in Andersson’s ‘ Birds of Damara Land,’ states :—‘* The 
principal enemy of these great swarms (of locusts), and the valued 
friend of the Cape farmer, is the small locust-bird, Glareola Nord- 
MUNIN ay 6. 26s These birds come, I may say, in millions, attendant 
on the flying swarms of locusts: indeed the appearance of a few of 
them is looked upon as a sure presage of the locust swarms being at 
hand. Their mode of operation, as I saw it, was as follows :—They 
intercept a portion of the swarm and form themselves into a ring of 
considerable height, regularly widening towards the top, so as to 
present the appearance of a revolving balloon or huge spinning-top. 
They thus fly one over the other, and, hawking at the locusts, gra- 
dually contract their circle and speedily demolish the locusts within 
its limits. As their digestion, like that of all insectivorous birds, is 
very rapid, the form in which they thus enclose their prey is admi- 
rably adapted to enable the lower to escape the droppings of the 
upper birds. When they have consumed this portion of the swarm, 
they follow up the main body and commence another attack, and so 
on, until night sets in and the birds happen to lose the swarm or 
the locusts are all devoured. I should not forget to mention that 
the beak of these birds is exactly of such a shape and such dimen- 
sions that when they seize the locusts the snap cuts off the four 
wings, and a passer by sees a continual shower of locusts’ wings 
falling on the ground, At another time, when I was stationed at 
Fort Peddie, and the country was suffering from the effects of a 
