130 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 



male and female, in breeding plumage, in the 

 Museum, and also one in winter plumage. 



109. OYSTERCATCHER, Hamatopus ostralegus, Lin- 

 naeus. French, "Hiutrier pie." The Guernsey 

 Bird Act includes these birds under the name 

 * Piesmarans,' which is the name given to the 

 Oystercatcher by all the French-speaking fishermen 

 and boatmen, and which I suppose must be looked 

 upon only as the local name, though I have no 

 doubt it is the common name also on the neigh- 

 bouring coast of Normandy and Brittany. The 

 Oystercatcher is resident all the year, and breeds in 

 all the Islands ; I think, however, its numbers are 

 considerably increased in the autumn by migratory 

 arrivals ; certainly the numbers actually breeding 

 in the Islands are not sufficient to account for the 

 immense flocks one sees about in October and 

 November. There seem, however, to be considerable 

 numbers remaining in flocks throughout the summer, 

 without apparently the slightest intention of sepa- 

 rating for breeding purposes, as I have often counted 

 as many as forty or fifty together in June and July. 

 The Oystercatcher breeds in Guernsey itself about 

 the cliffs. Mr. Howard Saunders, Colonel 1'E strange 

 and myself found one very curiously placed nest of 

 the Oystercatcher on the ridge of a hog-backed rock 

 at the bottom of the cliff, near the south end of the 

 Island ; it was not much above high-water mark, 



