DECEMBER, 1881. 113 



after the great storm of November, that an oyster-catcher 

 eating the drowned-out worms was a novelty even a few 

 yards from the water, but here was a great band quite in 

 their element. We have never taken anything but shell- 

 fish from their stomachs, and have certainly never before 

 seen a similar determination to have a share of what was 

 forthcoming further inland. Have the birds been driven 

 by failing supplies, now the tides are getting small ; or 

 have they reasoned that, if the rooks persistently find 

 nourishment along the foreshores, they may in return 

 invade with satisfaction the hunting grounds of the rooks ? 

 Limpets are, no doubt, the ordinary diet of oyster-catchers 

 with us ; but if they find a soft diet of worms is easier for 

 even their strong bills, they may in time somewhat alter 

 their characteristics. We suspect the younger members 

 even now fight shy of the more difficult and vigorous 

 species of limpets, for last Friday (2 3rd) during the best 

 of the tide, we observed a flock of these birds busily 

 engaged among the stones on a gravel spit that runs well 

 out into the loch. Although much frequented by them, 

 we did not believe they were feeding much, and so 

 carefully examined one that fell to the gun on this same 

 ground. Its stomach was certainly full of limpets, but 

 they were so small that the bird had eaten shell and fish 

 together in every case, while in the larger specimens they, 

 of course, only eat the fish. The beak of this bird was 

 not worn down, so we concluded it was this year's 

 growth, and had not yet reached the necessary skill to 

 succeed with the colossi of the limpet tribe, for the meat 

 contained in one good limpet would have far surpassed 

 the contents ot all the shells in the stomach of our speci- 

 men, and would have attracted its attention at low water 

 had it been capable of detaching one such. 

 H 



