OYSTER-CATCHER. 



CHARADRlIDiE.] 



H^MATOPUS OSTRALEGUS, Linnaeus. 



Explanation of Plate. 



Figure 1. Island of Lewis, May 25, 1886. In collection of R. W. Chase, Esq. 



„ 2. Dunkeld, May 2, 1890. In collection of H. Massey, Esq. 



„ 3. Schleswig, June 2, 1890. Ditto. 



„ 4. Scilly Isles, June 7, 1888. Ditto. 



„ 5. Sutherlandshire, May 19, 1890. Ditto. 



„ 6. Ditto. Ditto. 



„ 7. Ballinluig, Perthshire, May 27, 1881. In collection of R. "W. Chase, Esq. 



„ 8. Midgarth, Stronsay, May 9, 1893. In collection of H. Massey, Esq. 



The Oyster-catcher is a well-known resident in the British Islands, breeding 

 on the coasts and, in Scotland, also on the shores of rivers and inland lochs. Its 

 numbers are increased in autumn by migrants from the continent. 



Refeeeing to the nesting of the Oyster-catcher, Macgillivray writes * : — " On the 

 shores of the Hebrides, where I have often found it, the nest is generally a slight 

 hollow among the gravel or pebbles above high-water mark ; but when a rocky 

 place has been chosen, a few straws and fragments of plants, sometimes small 

 stones and bits of shells, are brought together. The favourite breeding places are 

 headlands and rocky islands, but the nests are sometimes found on sandy beaches. 

 The eggs are generally three, sometimes four, placed with the smaller ends 

 together. They are of a regular oval form, somewhat narrowed towards the smaller 

 extremity, two inches long, an inch and seven-twelfths broad, of a pale grejash- 

 yellow colour, marked all over with dots, spots, and blotches of blackish-brown 

 and amber, with some irregular linear markings of the same. The eggs are usually 

 deposited from the tenth of April to the twentieth of May, and only one brood is 

 reared in the season. Although the parent bfrds evince great anxiety about thefr 

 eggs or young, they seldom come very near an intruder, but generally keep flying 

 about at a safe distance, uttering their loud shrill cry." 



* ' History of British Birds, Indigenous and Migratory,' vol. iv. pp. 157, loS. 



