250 CHARADRIIDA 
beats of the wings are regular, and the flight, as a rule, is 
very straight. 
Nest. —The nesting-sites vary considerably. Thus, while 
low-lying, sandy flats, strewn with shingle and fine gravel, 
form one resort, rocky shores form another. This species 
breeds in large numbers on islands round our coasts. On 
the Irish sea-board I have found the nest built on grass- 
grown reefs,’ or on rock-platforms at high elevations. 
“On the north coast of Mayo Mr. Warren has found 
Oyster-catchers nesting in the fields close to the cliffs, as 
well as on the rocks and islands’? (Ussher), and where 
islands are lofty the nests are often placed on the tops of 
these, where ferns and grass sprout among knobs of rock. 
In Scotland, especially in the eastern section, this bird 
breeds not only on the coast, but also along the margins 
of large rivers at some distance from the tide; in Ireland, 
after several searches during many years, I have failed to 
find the nest in inland situations. The nest is usually a 
mere hollow in the rock or soil, and sometimes contains 
pebbles or dry rabbit-dung ; blades of withered grass occa- 
sionally form a lning when the nest is placed in fields, 
while fragments of stems, fern-fronds, and morsels of dry 
seaweeds may be picked from the general surroundings. 
Or again, the eggs may be deposited in a depression in a 
clump of growing thrift, which is pressed under the sitting- 
bird and forms a lining without the addition of any loose 
material. 
The eggs, normally three in number, are light stone- 
colour (though I have seen fresh ones of a warm butt shade), 
spotted and sometimes streaked in an irregular or a zig-zag 
manner with ight and dark brown. Incubation begins in 
most districts about the end of April. 
The natural timidity of the Oyster-catcher gives place to 
boldness amounting to fearlessness when its nesting-haunts 
are intruded upon. Many a time have I seen a pair of these 
birds advance towards me and ere I came within two 
hundred yards of their downy young, scold me with loud and 
incessant alarm-notes, all the while their mouths gaping 
widely, as they fluttered swiftly to and fro a few feet above 
my head. 
' IT have discovered the nest in this situation on Ireland’s Eye, one 
of the few breeding-haunts on the east coast of Ireland. 
