OYSTER CATCHER. 325 



feet deep purplish-red. At times, these birds, in 

 winter, are distinguished by a collar of white beneath 

 the throat, which disappears as the season of incu- 

 bation approaches, but it is occasionally only more 

 or less marked by white tips to the feathers. In 

 the young birds of the first plumage, the dark parts 

 are all of a duller black, approaching in some parts 

 to brownish -black ; and on the back and scapulars, 

 the feathers are tipped with ochreous ; the tips of 

 the white upper tail-coverts are barred with black 

 and ochreous ; the colours of the bill and legs are 

 not so brilliant as in the old birds, that of the latter 

 being of a livid grey. We have seen specimens of 

 a dull white or fawn colour. 



