PIED OYSTERCATCHER. 15 
—J 
Famity HAIMATOPODIDAS, 
All Oystercatchers are referable to one genus, as lumpers consider the value of 
that group, but the distinction of Prohwmatopus Mathews will later be fully acknow- 
ledged. The group is undoubtedly ancient, as the distribution proves, the species 
occurring on all shores save in the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and Polynesia. There 
is little variation in the colour and size of the species, a dark unicolour series apparently 
having independently evolved in different localities. Superficially with their long 
bills and short legs they present a different appearance from other Charadriiform 
birds, and are seen to belong here by examination of the structural features of the 
downy young. 
Genus HZMATOPUS. 
Hematopus Linné, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 152, Jan. Ist, 1758. Type (by monotypy): 
Hematopus ostralequs Linné. 
Ostralega Brisson, Ornith., Vol. I., p. 46, Vol. V., p. 38, 1760. Type (by tautonymy): ZH. 
ostralegus Linné. 
Ostrelaga Bonnaterre, Tabl. Ency. Méth. Ornith., Vol. I., pp. uxxxir, 25, 1791. Type (by 
monotypy): H. ostralegus Linné. 
Ostralegus Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel, p. xir., 1852 (? 1853). Type (by original 
designation): Hematopus longirostris Vieillot. 
Melanibyx Reichenbach, 7b. Type (by original designation) : H. niger Temminck. 
The Oystercatchers constitute a distinct family of birds, whose exact relation- 
ships are somewhat obscure. 
They are Wading birds characterised by very long straight, laterally compressed 
bills, long wings, short legs and stout feet. 
The bill is long and straight, laterally compressed in front of the nostrils, much 
longer than the head and also longer than the tarsus ; the nostrils lie near the base 
of the culmen as longitudinal slits, in a groove which extends along half the length 
of the bill. The wings are long and pointed with the first primary longest and more 
than twice the length of the tail which is square. Metatarsus short and thick and 
entirely covered with somewhat hexagonal scales ; toes short and thick, with slight 
webs between the basal phalanges, and the skin of the soles laterally extended. 
Hind-toe entirely absent. 
109. Hematopus ostralegu.—PIED OYSTERCATCHER. 
[Hematopus ostralegus Linné, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 152, Jan. Ist, 1758: Sweden, Europe. 
Extra-limital.] 
Gould, Vol. VI., pl. 7 (pt. xvmt.), March Ist, 1845. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 1, pl. 126, April 
2nd, 1913. 
Hematopus longirostris Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., Vol. XV., p. 410, Sept. 13th, 1817 : 
“ Australasie ’’ = New South Wales. 
Hematopus picatus King, Survey Intertrop. Coasts Austr., Vol. II., p. 420, “1827”’ = April 
26th, 1826. No locality = Point Torment, North-west Australia. 
Hematopus australasianus Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. tv., App., p. 6, April Ist, 1838: 
New South Wales. 
Hematopus longirostris mattingleyi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 213, Jan. 31st, 1912: 
Cooktown, Queensland. 
DisTRIBUTION.—Australia generally and Tasmania. 
Adult male-——Head and neck all round, back, wings, and tail black ; lower back, 
rump, upper tail-coverts, and base of tail white, like the breast, abdomen, axillaries, 
and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts black margined and tipped with white ; 
some of the feathers on the upper-breast fringed with white at the tips ; upper greater 
wing-coverts broadly tipped with white ; secondary-quills white at the base with 
