CHARADBIID^: ILEMATOPUS 377 



Ayres, while Major Sparrow has taken fresh eggs at Mooi Eiver 

 in Natal on August 14. 



Mr. Harris gives a very detailed account of the nesting habits of 

 this bird near Knysna, illustrated by some life-like and character- 

 istic photographs. The eggs are very difficult to find; they are 

 placed in a slight hollow in the sand and covered with a few small 

 stones and bark ; when the hen leaves them, a final kick with her 

 foot dusts over the spot. The eggs, which are two in number, are 

 rather shorter and more pyriform than those of J&. marginata ; 

 the ground colour is a creamy- buff, with a slight greenish tinge, 

 they are very thickly covered with irregular streaks and scrolls of 

 very dark brown, with underlying greenish-brown markings of the 

 same nature ; they measure about 1-24 x 0-95. 



Subfamily II. H^MATOPODIN^. 

 Bill very long ; tarsus reticulated throughout. 



Genus I. HJEMATOPUS. 



Type. 



Haemotopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 257 



(1766) . . .................................................... H. ostralegus. 



Bill long, compressed and almost straight, cuhnen longer than 

 the head or tarsus ; angle of the mandible nearer the gape than the 

 tip ; nostrils elongate in a groove confined to the proximal half of 

 the bill ; wings long ; first primary the longest ; tail nearly square ; 

 tarsus short, but slightly longer than the middle toe and claw, 

 covered with reticulate scales all round ; no hind toe ; a basal web 

 between the middle and outer toe ; toes stout with broad soles. 



The Oyster Catchers form a compact genus containing about 

 twelve species spread all over the world ; only one of these is found 

 in South Africa. 



733. Hsematopus moquini. Black Oyster Catcher. 



Hsematopus niger, (nee Pall) Temm. Man. Orn. ii, p. 533 (1820) ; 



Gray, Gen. B. iii, pi. 146 (1847). 



Ostralega capensis, Liclit. Verz. Donll. p. 73 (1823) [nom. nud.] . 

 Haematopus moquini, Bp. C. B. xliii, p. 1020 (1856); Gurney, Ibis, 



1862, p. 34 [Natal]; Layara, B. S. Afr. p. 300 (1867); Gurney, in 



