NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 41 



No. 109. OYSTER-CATCHER. (Hsematopus ostralegus.) 



The " Sea-Pie," as this species is often called, is a common resident 

 on the shores of the British Islands, but is most numerous during 

 the colder months of the year, when its numbers are augmented by 

 migrants from the Continent. Its food consists of crustaceans, as well 

 as mussels, whelks and limpets, which are extracted from their shells by 

 the bird's powerful bill. It breeds on the sea-shore above high-water 

 mark or on the stony beds of rivers ; no real nest is made, but a slight 

 hollow is usually scraped in the sanpor shingle and is often lined with 

 fragments of shells. The eggs, generally three in number, are pale 

 brownish-buff, spotted and streaked with dark brown and ash-grey. 



Isles of Scilly, June. 



Presented by Edward Bidwell, Esq. 



No. HO. KNOT. (Tringa canutus.) 



A regular visitor to the British coasts, arriving from the north in 

 large flocks in autumn and remaining till May, when all except the 

 non-breeding birds return to North Greenland, Arctic America, and 

 North-western Siberia. On the 30th of July, 1876, Colonel Feilden, 

 when naturalist to H.M.S. 'Alert/ found this species breeding near a 

 small lake on Grinnell Land in lat. 82° 33' N., and obtained the old 

 and young birds exhibited in the Case. 



The four pear-shaped eggs have the ground-colour pale green or 

 vellowish-white blotched and spotted with dark brown and violet-grey 

 (<?/. ' Ibis/ 1904, p. 233). 



In winter the plumage of the upper-parts is ash-grey and the under- 

 pays are white spotted with grey. 



Presented by Colonel H. W. Feilden, C.B. 



No. 111. CURLEW. (Numenius arquatus.) 



This species is common on the British coasts throughout the year ; 

 but in spring the adult birds retire inland to the moors and uplands 

 for nesting-purposes. In summer the food consists of berries, worms, 

 molluscs, etc., but in winter crustaceans and other marine animals are 

 eaten. The nest, a slight hollow in the ground, lined with bits of dry 

 herbage, is usually situated among heather, bog-myrtle, or grass. The 

 four large pear-shaped eggs vary in tint from olive-green to brownish- 

 buff, and are spotted and blotched with brown and purplish-grey. 

 Inverness-shire, April. 

 Presented by Lord Lovat. 



