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OYSTER CATCHERS. 



THE interesting birds which constitute the next 

 limited genus, are nearly completely maritime in 

 their habits, and exhibit an alliance, in various re- 

 spects, to the family in which, by the almost com- 

 mon consent of modern ornithologists, they have 

 been placed. They are gregarious except during 

 the breeding season, and, even then, incubation is 

 frequently conducted in companies. They breed 

 chiefly upon the ground, making little or no nest, 

 and lay four eggs. They are subject to a double 

 moult, analogous to that of the Charadriadce ; and 

 their manner, when an intruder approaches the nest, 

 is also similar. We have representatives of the form 

 in every quarter of the world. 



ILEMATOPUS. Generic characters. Bill long, 

 straight, or slightly bending upwards, com- 

 pressed, point abruptly truncated ; mandible 

 with a large short nasal groove in the mem- 

 brane, of which the nostrils are pierced ; nos- 

 trils linear; wings ample, first quill longest; 

 legs comparatively short ; tibia3 for a short 

 space naked ; toes three, anterior, short, united 

 by a membrane which borders them. 



Types, H. ostralegm, paltiatus^ niger, &c. Cos- 

 mopolite. 



Note. Habits maritime ; gregarious except during 

 incubation ; breed on the ground. 



