160 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



a time have I crawled on hands and knees for half- 

 a-mile along the sands to try and get a shot, without 

 success, and no one who has not tried it knows the 

 luxury of standing upright after this tiring work. 

 Unless the ground present some cover in the shape 

 of a sea wall or a few scattered boulders of rock, the 

 surest way to obtain a shot is with a boat. Instead 

 of rowing alongshore, however, it is better to put 

 out to some distance, and then bear down directly 

 on the flock. In this way they allow a nearer ap- 

 proach, and as they almost invariably follow the 

 coast-line, or cross the w^ater when flying, a good 

 right or left shot may be obtained. If you are well 

 concealed, you may arrest the flight of a single bird, 

 and attract it within shot by imitating the call-note 

 above given, but this artifice seldom succeeds with a 

 flock unless it consists of only a few birds. The 

 loud whistle secondly noted above is more fre- 

 quently heard in the breeding season, and is uttered 

 frequently, as if in alarm when the eggs or j^oung 

 are approached. At this season the Oystercatcher 

 becomes more fearless. On two or three occasions 

 when I had found the nest, one of the parent birds 

 continued to fly round me within shot. This I sus- 

 pected to be the female, but the plumage of both 

 sexes is so similar that they can only be distin- 

 guished by dissection. 



Many authors state that the Oystercatcher always 

 lays four eggs. Out of a score of nests which I have 



