NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OP THE BELL ROCK. 79 



Just as the rocks were being overflowed the other day, we 

 had a visit of another bird which is but rarely seen here, 

 namely, the oyster-catcher. The plumage beautiful black and 

 white, the feet and bill a brilliant red ; the latter, which is 

 flattened vertically, suggestive of a stick of sealing wax. 

 Though fairly well acquainted with this species, I never had 

 the good fortune till now to see them in the role of limpet 

 pickers, by which name they are known in some localities. 

 From the balcony, with the aid of the telescope, his move- 

 ments were brought within a few feet of us. Wading an 

 inch or so deep, where the limpets were probably opening to 

 the influence of the incoming tide, he appeared to make a 

 judicious selection ; then, with a single sidelong blow of his 

 chisel-like bill, he turned the no doubt astonished mollusc 

 upside down. Seizing it in his bill, he carried it to a still 

 dry portion of the Rock, and in a twinkling he had the limpet 

 out of its shell, and journeying up his long bill to its doom. 

 The tip of the upper mandible appeared to do the scooping 

 out, while the lower merely acted as a resistance outside 

 the shell, the operation being performed more quickly than 

 even the adroit oyster-man turns out his wares on the half- 

 shell. Though not web-footed nor in the habit of diving, I 

 remember seeing one of these birds, which had been winged 

 with a gun-shot, dive repeatedly in order to escape further 

 injury. 



On the afternoon of the 16th, two days earlier than last 

 year, a loud chorus of discordant voices floating to our bed- 

 room windows announced the presence of a large flock of 

 terns their first arrival here since wintering in the sunny 

 south. Screaming and diving, they appear tireless in the 

 pursuit of their prey, which, with the aid of the telescope, 

 is seen to consist of inch-long "fry." How trim and neat 

 they appear as they cluster on the rocks as the tide recedes, 

 pruning their feathers and chattering vociferously ; the head 

 enshrouded in a black, glossy skull-cap, the back and wings 

 a bluish grey, the under parts of unsullied white; the long 

 sharp-pointed scarlet bill tipped with black in harmony with 



