194 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



singly. I am inclined to believe that they utter no characteris- 

 tic cry as all I have ever seen or studied about Penobscot Bay 

 seemed very silent. The four eggs are laid in a mere hollow 

 in the ground in high northern latitudes such as the Hudson Bay 

 region. The eggs are greenish ash or clay color, dotted, blotched 

 and streaked with grayish brown, yellowish and umber brown. 



Family H^MATOPODIDvE. Oyster-catchers. 

 Genus H^EMATOFUS Linnaus. 



286. Hcematopuspalliatus Temm. American Oyster-catcher; 



Brownish-backed Oyster-catcher. 



Plumage of adults : head, neck and upper breast glossy black ; lower breast, 

 belly, base of tail, upper tail coverts and secondaries white ; end of tail and 

 primaries fuscous ; back and wing coverts olive brown. Immature plumage : 

 differs chiefly in the darker colors being more brownish rather than black ; 

 the feathers above margined more or less with buffy. Wing 10.00 to 11.00 ; 

 culmen 3.30 ; tarsus 2.30. 



Geog. Dist. — Coast of America from New Jersey and Lower California to 

 Patagonia; occasional on the Atlantic coast north to Grand Menan, and 

 formerly even to Labrador. 



County Records. — Cumberland ; " It seems scarcer between Long Island 

 and Portland, Maine, where you again see it, and whence it occurs all the 

 way to Labrador." (Audubon, Orn. Biog. 3, p. 181 et seq.) 



We have only Audubon's record to rely upon in crediting 

 the species to the State as all other lists have seemingly relied 

 upon Smith's record (Forest and Stream, 20, p. 45) which I am 

 informed by Mr. Boardman was based upon a specimen taken 

 upon CANADIAN SOIL. However in view of Audubon's 

 very definite statement there seems no doubt that in his day 

 the species was found near Portland. 



They nest more or less locally in small colonies along the 

 coast of the South Atlantic and Gulf States. Three or some- 

 times only two creamy or buify white eggs, somewhat evenly 

 spotted and blotched with brown and chocolate and with 

 suffused blotches of lilac, are laid. The nest is a mere hollow 

 in the sand. 



