THE BIEDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC 145 



Rare; possibly resident. 



The oyster-catcher was reported to Cory on the coasts of the Do- 

 minican Republic but was not seen by him personally. So far as 

 we are aware the only definite record for the eastern republic is that 

 of a male taken at Jovero, Dominican Republic, on November 28, 

 1923, by Dr. W. L. Abbott. Poole and Perrygo collected a pair on 

 Tercero Island in the Seven Brothers group January 30, 1929. 

 Nothing further is known of the occurrence of the bird on the island. 



The oyster-catcher is a shore-bird of large size that frequents 

 rocky shores or nearby sandy beaches, where it calls and whistles 

 loudly at the sight of man, and at any alarm flies to some secure 

 spot where it is safe from attack. It is strong and robust in body 

 and is difficult to kill. 



Though current literature 51 lists the oyster-catcher of the West 

 Indies as typical H. p. palliatus this seems to have been done without 

 examination of specimens from the Greater Antilles. On compari- 

 son of the skins from Hispaniola we find that the males have the 

 following measurements : culmen from base 81.3 and 85.9 mm., which 

 equals the average for H. p. prattii the form of the Bahama Islands, 

 and is longer than the bill in males of typical palliatus from the 

 southeastern United States. The tip of the bill in the female from 

 Tercero Island is broken so that it can not be measured. The bill in 

 the Hispaniolan specimens is also relatively heavy, somewhat more 

 so in fact than in the only male of prattii available to us at this time. 

 As elongated culmen and heavy bill are the characters at present 

 used to separate the Bahaman bird the Jovero and Tercero skins 

 must be identified as of that race. This makes it appear probable 

 that the bird of Desecheo Island in Mona passage, between the 

 Dominican Republic and Porto Rico, identified as palliatus 52 solely 

 on the assumption of supposed range as no specimens were available, 

 may also be this same form. It is possible on the other hand that the 

 bird from Jovero is a migrant or a stray from the Bahamas. The 

 status of the races of palliatus as regards the area from northern 

 South America northward is yet unsatisfactory and should be re- 

 viewed when more material is available. It may be noted that 

 Murphy in the paper cited above is in error in attributing prattii to 

 Bangs as this form was first described by Maynard. 



The oyster-catcher has the head and neck sooty black, the back 

 grayish brown, and a large patch in the wings and the under surface 

 white. Abbott, in the bird taken at Jovero, records the iris as brown- 

 ish yellow, the feet as" pinkish flesh color, and the bill and margin 

 of the eyelids red. It measured 447 mm. in length. 



61 Ridgway, R., D". S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 8, 1919, pp. 32, 36 ; Murphy, R. C, Amer. 

 Mus. Nov., No. 194, Nov. 17, 1925, pp. 5-7. 



63 Wetmore, A., New York Acad. Sci., Sci. Surv. Porto Rico and Virgin Islands, vol. 9, 

 1927, pp. 349-350. 



