378 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



reddish ; edge of the eyelid orange-red ; legs rich flesh-colour with a 

 purplish-rose tinge. (Dresser.) 



Length 18 inches, tail 4*5, wing 10, tarsus 2, bill from gape 3'7. 

 The above description is taken from a male bird shot in Arrakan and 

 presented to me by Mr. Shopland, Port Officer of Akyab. It is in many 

 respects intermediate between the English and the Australian species. In 

 H. ostralegus the under wing-coverts and the upper tail-coverts are pure 

 white and the shafts of the primaries are more or less white. In H. longi- 

 rostris the under wing-coverts are a mixture of black and white in about 

 equal proportions, the upper tail-coverts are tipped with black, and the 

 shafts of the primaries are all black. In the Arrakan bird, the only 

 one I have ever seen from ^urmah, it will be observed that while the 

 under wing-coverts are pure white, the upper tail-coverts are tipped with 

 black, and that the shafts of the primaries are black except for about one 

 inch of their length near the tip. H. osculans from China is similar to 

 the Burmese bird in many respects, and occupies a somewhat intermediate 

 position between it and H. longirostris, but it cannot, in nay opinion, be 

 maintained as a distinct species. 



The Oystercatcher was received by Mr. Blyth from Arrakan, and more 

 recently Mr. Shopland procured a specimen. Like the last species it is 

 not unlikely to occur along the whole coast of Burmah in the winter. 



It inhabits the whole of Europe and the coasts of Africa as far south as 

 the equator ; it also occurs on all the sea-coast line of Asia, extending to 

 the Malay islands, where it meets the Australian H. longirostris. 



The Oystercatcher is found chiefly on the sea-coast and the mouths of 

 large rivers. It feeds on shell-fish, small crabs and marine insects ; and it 

 does not usually eat oysters and large bivalves, as its trivial name implies. 

 It breeds in northern countries, laying three or four eggs in a depression 

 in the shore close to high-water mark ; the eggs are buff marked with 

 blackish brown. 



