THE OYSTER-CATCHER 283 



eight inches in length, the common plover or 

 peewit being thirteen inches. In plumage and 

 size the ringed plover is not very unlike the 

 Kentish plover, but the collar or ring of black 

 which encircles the neck of the former bird, and 

 from which it derives its appellation, is not com- 

 plete in the Kentish plover, the entire breast of 

 the latter being white. The two birds might, to 

 an inexperienced eye, be very readily mistaken 

 for each other. The ringed plover is very 

 generally distributed throughout Britain in those 

 portions of the coast which furnish it with suit- 

 able feeding-grounds. 



The oyster-catcher, equally well known by the 

 more appropriate name of sea-pie, is with the 

 stone curlew the largest of the plover tribe, the 

 length of both birds being equal, ie., sixteen 

 inches. Why the appellation of oyster-catcher 

 should have been given to this bird I am at a 

 loss to understand, since, though it feeds on 

 mussels and such-like shellfish, it is ' altogether 

 incapable of opening an oyster, whereas, from its 

 pied plumage, the name of sea-pie is more truly 

 descriptive. As Dixon remarks, ' This singular 

 bird may best be described as the magpie of the 

 shore, its black and white plumage, brilliant orange 

 bill, and pink legs, making it a very conspicuous 

 object along the precipitous coast.' Whereas the 

 ringed plover is chiefly to be met with on the 

 flat sea-shores, the oyster-catcher prefers the more 

 rocky portions of the coast, for the reason that 



