THE OYSTER-CATCHER. 9 1 



Family CHARADRHD^. 



OYSTER-CATCHER. 



Hamatopus ostralegus, LlNN. 



THE Oyster- Catcher, usually called " Sea-pie," or " Sea-pyot," in the vernacular 

 from its pied dress,* is a resident in our country (using the word with the 

 qualification mentioned on page 61), frequenting the shores during the winter, 

 rocky ones for preference, and breeding in Scotland in considerable numbers, either 

 on rocky shores, or by loch-sides far inland. It occurs in Greenland as a rare 

 straggler, is rare in N. Iceland, but common in the South, remaining to winter there 

 in flocks ; very abundant in the Faeroes and throughout Scandinavia. In Northern 

 Europe it breeds up to the Arctic Circle, and occasionally north of it, as far as 

 the mouth of the Ob, and southwards to the Mediterranean, on rocky shores and 

 also by large rivers and inland lakes, salt as well as fresh. In Southern Europe, 

 however, it is not common, except in winter. It visits India (as far east as 

 Burmah), Ceylon, and the Persian Gulf, in winter ; and the coasts of Africa, as far 

 as Mossambique on the east and Senegambia on the west coast. In Eastern Asia 

 a closely allied, if not identical, species (H. osculansj, with a slightly longer bill 

 and less white on the wing, takes its place, and in S. Africa, another, with no 

 white on it anywhere (H. capensisj , which is found as far north as the Canary Islands. 



Description of the adult : bill long (2^-3 inches), flattened laterally, ending 

 in a narrow vertical chisel edge, orange coloured, darker towards the tip ; iris 

 crimson ; eyelid reddish-orange ; head, neck, upper breast, shoulders, smaller wing- 

 coverts, inner tertiaries, and terminal half of tail, black ; back, upper tail-coverts, 

 and basal half of tail, greater wing-coverts, inner secondaries and outer tertiaries, 

 under side of wings, rest of under parts, and a small tick under the eye, white ; 

 primaries black, with a white streak on the inner web, extending to the outer web 

 also from the fourth inwards ; legs and feet flesh colour, with a crimson tinge ; 

 claws black. Length about 16 inches, closed wing a little over 9^. Sexes alike. 



In winter, and for about half the year, there is a white patch on the throat, 

 and the legs are of a duller flesh colour. 



* On the S.E. coast of England the Oyster-Catcher is commonly termed the " Olive" (cf. " Birds of Essex," 

 p. 238). H.A.M. 



