294 BRITISH BIRDS 



his strong, wedge-shaped bill he strikes the limpets from the rocks 

 and scoops out their contents ; and he opens the mussel-shells by 

 driving his beak between the closed valves and prising them npart. 

 He also devours sea-worms, shrimps, and other crustaceans. 



The nest is placed on the rocks or on rough shingle, a little 

 above high- water mark. It is very simple, being nothing more 

 than a slight depression in the shingle, with small pebbles ;m<l 

 fragments of shells for lining. Several false nests are sometimes 

 made by the birds near the one containing the eggs. 



Three, or very rarely four, eggs are laid, of a pale stone -colour 

 with a yellowish tinge, spotted and streaked with black, blackish 

 brown, and dark grey. During incubation the male keeps watch, 

 and gives warning of danger to his mate, who quietly leaves the 

 nest ; when the spot is approached both birds fly round the intruder, 

 frequently alighting on the ground within a few yards of him, 

 uttering their shrill, distressed cries the whole time. At all other 

 times the oyster-catcher is an excessively shy and wary bird, owing 

 to much persecution. 



In autumn and winter oyster-catchers gather in small flocks, 

 and the birds that breed on the northern coasts go south to winter, 

 their place being taken by migrants from the Continent. 



Red-necked Phalarope. 



Phalaropus hyperboreus. 



Female : head, hind neck, and shoulders ash-grey ; upper parts 

 dark grey mixed with rufous ; a white bar on the wing ; neck 

 chestnut ; upper breast ash-grey ; under parts white ; bill black ; 

 legs and feet greenish. Length, seven inches and three-quarters. 

 Male : smaller, and less brightly coloured. 



The phalaropes are small, handsome birds that, like the plovers 

 they are related to, perform long annual migrations, breed in 

 very high latitudes north of the arctic circle, and have a distinctly 

 different summer and winter plumage. But in the form of their 

 curiously lobed feet they are like coots, while in their habits they 

 are, perhaps, nearest to the moorhen. There are two British 

 species, both irregular visitors on migration to this country ; but of 

 the red-necked phalarope a few pairs remain to breed annually in 

 the Hebrides and Shetlands, consequently this species may be 



