200 GRALLAT. H^BMATOPUS. OYSTER-CATCHER. 



COMMON OYSTER-CATCHER. 



HIEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS, Linn. 

 PLATE XXXIII. FIGS. 1. 2. 



Heematopus ostralegus, Linn. Syst. 1. 257 Gmel. Sysl. 1. 694 Lath. 



Ind. Ornith. 2. 752. 1 Ran Syn. 105. A. J. Will. 220. 55 Sharis 



Zool. 11. 494. pi. 36 Flem. Brit. Anim. 1. 115. sp. 167. 

 Ostralega seu Pica marina, Briss. Orn. 5. 38. t. 3. f. 2. 

 L-'Huiterier, Buff. Ois. 8. 119. t. 9 Id. pi. Enl. 929. 

 L'Huiterier Pie, Temm. Man. (TOrnith. 2. 531. 

 Geschackte Austern-Fischer, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. 439. 

 Sea Pie, or Pied Oyster-Catcher, Penn. Br. Zool. 2. No. 213. pi. 74. in 



Winter Plumage Arct. Zool 2. 406 Will. (Angl.) 297 AUrin. 1. 



t. 78 Lath. Syn. 5. 219. t. 84. Lewies Br. Birds, 5. t. 188 Mont. 



Ornith. Diet. Id. Sup Wall. Syn. 2. t. 166 Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 151. 



Bewick's Br. Birds, 2. t. p. 7 Low's Faun. Oread, p. 91. 

 Common Oyster-Catcher, Shaw's Zool. 11. 494. pi. 36 Flem. Br. Anim. 



1. 115. sp. 169. 



PROVINCIAL Pianet, Sea Piet, Olive, Sea Woodcock, Trillichan, 

 Chalder, Chaldrick, Skildrake, Scolder. 



THE peculiar form of the bill, by which this bird is ena- 

 bled to wrench open oysters, muscles, &c. (by inserting its 

 wedge-shaped point between the valves, as these shell-fish 

 lay partially open in shallow water), has given rise to the 

 British trivial name, now attached to the genus. In addition 

 Food, to bivalves, it feeds much upon the limpet (patella), detach- 

 ing it with equal ease from the rock to which it adheres, and 

 afterwards scooping out the fish from its shell by means of 

 the same powerful instrument. This species is indigenous, 

 and distributed along the whole extent of the British coast, 

 but seems to be more numerous upon extensive flat shores, 

 particularly those of Lincolnshire and of the Solway Frith, 

 where it finds its favourite food, viz. the bivalve shell-fish, 

 more abundant than where the coast is of a more abrupt and 

 rocky character. It breeds upon the shore, laying its eggs 

 on the bare ground amongst the shingle, or in such scanty 

 herbage as grows immediately above high water-mark. The 



