158 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA, 
black tips. A few black feathers on the thighs ; bill scarlet, cream colour at the 
tip; iris and eyelid red; feet pinkish-red. Total length 500 mm.; culmen 82, 
wing 282-7, tail 116, tarsus 61. 
Adult female—Similar in colour of plumage to the adult male but larger and 
with a longer bill. 
Immature.—Differs from the adult in having the parts that are black in the 
adult, brown. The wing-coverts and scapulars are tipped and edged with white. 
The flank feathers are tipped with brown. The brown extends on to the lower back. 
The upper tail-coverts are almost all brown, having only a slight edging of white. 
Bill, culmen, and point dark brown ; legs and feet dark in the skin. 
Nestling in down.—Greyish-buff, with black spots on the back, and with a 
dark longitudinal stripe on each side above the wing. 
Nest—A depression in the sand. 
Hggs.—Clutch, two ; ground-colour pale stone, spotted all over with marks of 
very dark reddish-brown and lavender; axis 61-65 mm., diameter 40-43. 
Breeding-season.—August to January. 
Distribution and forms—Through Europe and Asia, the Moluccas, Australia 
and New Zealand, wintering in North Africa and India. The number of forms is 
not well known at present, probably many more than the five admitted by Mathews 
in 1913 being later accepted ; these are: H. o. ostralegus Linné, from Sweden, through 
Europe, probably not in Turkestan, where a form with much longer bills may breed, 
as all Indian birds in winter-plumage have much longer bills and more white on the 
throat; H. o. osculans Swinhoe from China and Japan, with less white on the 
primaries, longer bill and black tips to the upper tail-coverts; H. 0. picatus King 
from Northern Territory and North-west Australia, with a black edging to the inner 
wing, and small amount of white on inner web of primaries ; H. o. longirostris Vieillot 
from East and South Australia, with no white on the inner webs of primaries, more 
black on inner portion of wing, the black of the upper back extending on to the 
lower back (the smaller form from North Queensland and South-east New Guinea 
which Mathews named H. 0. mattingleyi being probably later reinstated); and 
H. o. finschi Martens from New Zealand, with still longer bills and apparently a 
strong tendency to melanism as evidenced in the aberration named H. reischeki 
Rothschild. 
110. Hematopus unicolor.—BLACK OYSTERCATCHER. 
[Hematopus unicolor Forster, Deser. Anim., ed. Licht., p. 112, (pref. Jan. Ist) 1844: New 
Zealand. Extra-limital.] 
Gould, Vol. VI., pl. 8 (pt. xvmr.), March Ist, 1845. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 1, pl. 127, April 
2nd, 1913. 
Hematopus niger Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. XIV., pt. 1, p. 336, 1826: Australia. 
Not of Temminck, Man. d’Orn., 2nd ed., Vol. II., p. 533, Oct. 21st, 1820: South Africa. 
Hematopus fuliginosus Gould, Birds Austr., pt. xvi. (Vol. IV., pl. 8), March Ist, 1845: 
‘Tasmania. 
Hematopus niger australasianus Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XLIIL., 
p- 420, Sept. Ist, 1856: New name for H. fuliginosus Gould. 
Hematopus opthalmicus Castelnau and Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. I., p. 385, 
March 1877: Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. 
Hematopus unicolor bernieri Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 214, Jan. 31st, 1912: 
Bernier Island, West Australia. 
DistRIBuTION.—Australia generally and Tasmania. 
Adult male.—Entirely glossy black above and below ; bill orange-yellow ; iris 
red ; eyelid orange-yellow ; feet dull brick-red. Total length 520 mm. ; culmen 82, 
wing 297, tail 124, tarsus 51. 
Adult female—Similar to the adult male, but larger, browner, and with a 
longer bill. 
