OYSTER-CATCHERS. 



375 



They assemble in considerable flocks for the purpose of migration 



if this term may be held applicable to the short journeys which 



they annually undertake. They ought rather to be called pleasant 



Fig. 147.— Oyster-catcher (Wa-iwato/jMS ostralegus, Linn.). 



little jaunts— inspections, as it were, of their domains ; something 

 like the circuit of his department made by a prefect, or the pro- 

 gress of a sovereign through his country. 



There are three or four species of the Oyster-catcher, only one 



Fig. U8.— Kuuuers ( Cursorius, Figuier). 



of which is a native of Europe. The plumage of the latter is 

 white and black, which, joined to its noisy habits, has obtained 



