CHAP, xvn.] OYSTER-CATCHERS. 137 



this time of year, as they run along with great swiftness, clap- 

 ping their wings together audibly above their heads, and flying 

 about round and round any intruder with rapid jerks, or hover- 

 ing in the air like a hawk, all the time tittering a loud and 

 peculiar whistle. They lead their young to the banks of any 

 pool or ditch at hand, and they conceal themselves in the holes 

 and corners close to the water's edge. 



The oyster-catchers sit quietly in pairs the chief part of the 

 day on the banks or islands of shingle about the river or on the 

 shore, but resort in the evenings to the sands in large flocks. I 

 have often been puzzled to understand why, during the whole of 

 the breeding-season, the oyster-catchers remain in large flocks 

 along the coast, notwithstanding their duties of hatching and 

 rearing their young. When all the other birds are paired off, 

 they still every now and then collect in the same numbers as they 

 do in winter. 



They lay very large eggs, of a greenish brown colour mottled 

 with black ; both these birds and pewits soon become tame and 

 familiar if kept in a garden or elsewhere, watching boldly for the 

 worms turned up by the gardener when digging. The oyster- 

 catcher's natural food appears to be shell-fish only ; I see them 

 digging up the cockles with their powerful bill, or detaching the 

 small mussels from the scarps, and swallowing them whole, when 

 not too large ; if, however, one of these birds finds a cockle too 

 large to swallow at once, he digs away at it with the hard point 

 of his bill till he opens it, and then eats the fish, leaving the shell. 



It is a curious fact with regard to this bird, that if it drops 

 winged on the sea, it not only swims with great ease, but dives, 

 remaining under water for so long a time, and rising again at 

 such a distance, that I have known one escape out to seu in spite 

 of my retriever, and I have watched the bird swim gallantly 

 and with apparent ease across the bay, or to some bank at a con- 

 siderable distance off. The feet of the oyster-catcher seem par- 

 ticularly ill-adapted for swimming, as the toes are very short 

 and stiff in proportion to the size of the bird. Most of the 

 waders, when shot above the water and winged, will swim for a 

 short distance, but generally with difficulty; none of them, how- 

 ever, excepting this bird, attempt to dive. 



When in captivity the oyster-catcher eats almost anything 



