268 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY 



/iiniiatiife birds are similar to the adults, but having the black areas 

 more dusky and rusty margins to all the feathers of the upper parts. 

 The white area extends well up on the breast. 



Geographical Range. — The Falkland Islands, lands about the Straits 

 of Magellan and north on the coasts of Patagonia to at least 51° South 

 Latitude. 



The bird taken by the naturalists of the Princeton Expeditions was pro- 

 cured near the mouth of Rio Coy, which appears to extend its range far- 

 ther north than heretofore known, and also some short distance from the 

 coast. 



This genus, so generally distributed, is found on almost every seacoast 

 of both continents. In all this wide distribution there does not appear to 

 be any great diversity of habit among the many species that are described. 

 The birds are generally not gregarious, but are usually found in pairs. 

 They seem in most regions to prefer sandy beaches, particularly such as 

 have dunes adjoining, and in such localities they nest. 



From the fact that they frequent these places, as well as their known 

 habit of feeding on the smaller crustaceans, it seems improbable that 

 oysters form any appreciable part of the food of these birds. On the 

 coasts of Virginia and New Jersey, adjacent to large areas of oyster beds, 

 many of which are exposed at low water, Mr. Scott has never seen the 

 Oyster-catchers of these shores leave the sea-beaches and sand dunes to 

 forage for the bivalve that has given a name to the several representatives 

 in many parts of the world. That the bill is used for boring in the sand 

 after small shell fish and crustaceans is amply attested by the tracks left 

 by a pair of feeding birds. 



The nest is little more than a hollow in the sand within the border of 

 the dunes, and here three eggs are laid. These are large for the size of 

 the bird ; almost as big as those of an ordinary domestic fowl. From the 

 nest to the nearest point of the sea a path is formed by the two parent 

 birds, which, as time goes on, becomes a conspicuous track that will serve 

 the searcher to discover the nest. This trail is formed by the birds going 

 to feed at low water, the time spent at the nesting site being during the 

 higher stages of the tide. 



