PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 69 



Plovers differs strikingly from that of the Sand- 

 pipers and Snipes, inasmuch that it tapers from the 

 base to the end of the nasal groove, then swells 

 towards the tip. It is utterly impossible in a 

 work like the present, which only attempts a slight 

 sketch of marine bird-life on British coasts, to deal 

 adequately with the astonishing amount of varia- 

 tion, even in this single organ of Limicoline birds. 

 We will, therefore, now proceed to notice the most 

 characteristic species found on the tideways of 

 our islands, either as resident species, as passing 

 migrants, or as winter visitors. It will, perhaps, be 

 most convenient, as well as most interesting, to deal 

 first with those species that are resident on our 

 coasts, as being the most characteristic forms of 

 this group of shore birds. 



OYSTER-CATCHER. 



During summer, this species (the Hcematopus 

 ostralegus of Linnseus and other systematists) south 

 of the Yorkshire and Lancashire coasts, is decidedly 

 local and rare ; but north of those localities it 

 becomes one of the most common and characteristic 

 birds of the shore, even extending to the Shetlands, 

 the wildest of the Hebrides and St. Kilda. It is of 

 interest to remark that in some parts of Scotland 

 the Oyster-catcher drops its marine habits, and 

 frequents the banks of rivers and lochs. There is, 

 perhaps, no more conspicuous, no more handsome, 

 no more noisy bird along the coast, than the Oyster- 



