344 PLOVERS. 



upon insects, worms, and slugs. The^ eggs are four in number, and are de- 

 posited among heath in a hollow in the ground, very slightly lined. The young 

 birds run as soon as they quit the cgi,% and the parents make use of many 

 artifices to protect their helpless family. They will sometimes flutter along 

 as if lame and unable to take wing, at a few feet before the intruder, till, having 

 effected their object, away they fly. In the same manner they protect their 

 eggs, the female always running to a considerable distance from her nest, and 

 nieeting the intruder long before he approaches the spot, before employing 

 her parental stratagems. 



The type of this sub-family is — 



The Ringed Plover {Charadrius Hiaiicula), a small and prettily-marked 

 bird, found throughout the year upon all the coasts of Great Britain. 



Sub-Family V. 



THE OYSTER-CATCHERS. H/EMATOPODIN.^.* 



General Characteristics. — Bill lengthened, strong, and with the apical half much 

 compressed to the tip, which is obtuse; the nostrils linear, and placed in a mem- 

 branous lateral groove ; the wings long and pointed ; the tail moderate ; the tarsi 

 robust, and covered with small scales ; the toes three, the lateral toes united at the 

 base by a membrane, especially the outer one ; the claws strong, broad, and curved. 



The Oyster-catchers frequent rocky promontories, or the broad 

 banks of mud, sand, and ooze which stretch out into the sea from 

 low portions of the coast. Here they feed on mussels and other 

 bivalves, limpets, worms, Crustacea, and small fishes. When the 

 mud-banks are covered by the tide, they move to a short distance 

 inland, and pick up slugs and insects in the meadows. Their eggs 

 are laid in a slight depression among the shingle above high-water 

 mark ; but on rocky shores they make an attempt at a nest by 

 collecting a few blades of grass or scraps of seaweed. They lay 

 three or four eggs, and the young are able to run after breaking 

 the shell. They are sometimes called " Sea Pies." 



The only species is — 



The Pied Oyster-catcher {^H>rmatopus os/ralegus). This singular bird, 

 although nowhere numerous, in habits almost every sea-shore, both on the old 

 and new continent, but is never found inland. It is the only one of its genus 

 hitherto discovered, and from the conformation of its parts one might almost 

 be led to suppose that it had borrowed the eye of the pheasant, the legs and 



* aina, a?fxaTos, hccma, hxmatos, blood ; vovi, 7ro56s, pous, podos, a foot: red-footed. 



