222. 
595. 
596. 
606 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LIMICOL. 
ee 
39. Family HAMATOPODIDZ: Oyster-catchers. Turnstones. 
A small family of two genera and six or eight species, with the bill hard, and either acute 
or truncate, the nasal fossee short, broad, and shallow; the legs short, stout, brightly-colored. 
The two following genera differ much — in fact, more than Aphriza does from Strepsilas ; it 
is unnecessary to give a formal analysis. Each should be type of a subfamily at least. 
56. Subfamily HAMATOPODINA: Oyster-catchers. 
KMA'TOPUS. (Gr. aisatorois, haimatopous, red-footed ; aiva, haima, blood, rods, pous, 
foot.) OYSTER-CATCHERS. No hind toe. Front toes with basal webbing, conspicuous between 
middle and outer, and broadly fringed with membrane continuous with the webs to the ends. 
Tarsus longer than middle toe 
and claw, reticulate, the plates 
in front enlarged; shorter than 
bill. Tibize briefly bare below. 
Legs as a whole very stout, 
coarse and rough, and light- 
colored. Wings long and 
pointed; Ist and 2d quills sub-. 
equal and longest. Tail short, 
Fia. 420. — Bill of Oyster-catcher, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) square, searcely or not half as 
long as the wing. Bill peculiar —longer than tarsus, twice as long as head, constricted near 
the base, much compressed, almost like a knife-blade toward end, and truncate, something 
like a woodpecker’s (it is an efficient instrument for prying open the shells of bivalve mol- 
lusks), hard, straight or deflected sideways, highly colored (fig. 420.) Nasal groove very short, 
broad, and shallow; grooving of lower mandible slight; interramal space very short, scarcely a 
third the length of the long ascending gonys. Nostrils remote from the feathers, linear, close 
to edge of bill. Size large. Sexes similar. Coloration dark and white, in masses. Several 
species, inhabiting the sea-coasts of most countries. 
Analysis of Species. 
Head, neck and upper back glossy-black; belly white. . ...... +... +... . . ostrilegus 595 
Head and neck glossy-black; back smoky-brown; belly white . . ....... . . « palliatus 596 
Head and neck glossy-black; back and belly smoky-brown . . . . . . «ee ee ee ee niger 597 
H. ostri/legus. (Lat. ostr@a, an oyster; lego, I gather. Fig. 421.) EUROPEAN OysTER- 
CATCHER (oyster-opener would be a better name, as oysters do not run fast). Similar to the 
next to be described. Upper parts glossy-black, like the head and neck. Quills black, broadly 
margined with white on inner webs excepting towards end, aud also with isolated white 
shafts and spaces near end. Back below, interscapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts entirely 
white, as well as bases of the tail-feathers. Length about 16.00; bill about 3.00; wing 9.50; 
tail 4.30; tarsus nearly 2.00. Europe, Asia, Africa; N. Am. as occurring im Greenland. 
H. pallia/tus. (Lat. palliatus, wearing the pallium, a cloak.) AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER. 
BROWN-BACKED OYSTER-CATCHER. Adult g 9: Bill vermilion or coral-red, changing to 
yellow at end. Feet pale purplish flesh-color, drying dingy yellowish. Eyes and ring around 
them red or orange. Whole head and neck all around glossy-black, frequently overcast with 
an ashy or glaucous shade. Back and wing-coverts smoky-brown —the contrast with the 
head and neck decided. Rump and central field of upper tail-coverts like back (not white) ; 
lateral and longest central coverts white. Tail-feathers white at base for nearly the space 
covered by the coverts, on the lateral feathers rather farther; then like back, blackening at 
ends. Tertiaries and long inner secondaries like back; next few secondaries pure white; rest 
gaining dark color in increasing amount; the white of the secondaries forming with the lung 
