PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 71 



careers about the air overhead, anxious for the 

 safety of its eggs or young. This note cannot 

 readily be confused with that of any other bird 

 upon the coast. It may best be described as a loud 

 shrill keep- keep -keep. The food of the Oyster- 

 catcher is composed of mussels, whelks, limpets, 

 crustaceans, and small fish, together with various 

 tender buds and shoots of marine plants. Its 

 chisel-shaped bill enables it readily to detach limpets 

 from the rocks, or force open the closed valves of 

 the mussel or the cockle. Oyster-catchers often 

 frequent certain spots on the coast to feed, visiting 

 them as soon as the tide admits, with great regu- 

 larity. It may here be remarked that this bird 

 wades often through the shallows, but never swims, 

 as far as I know, unless wounded. 



The eggs of the Oyster-catcher are laid in May 

 or June, in the north a little later than in the south. 

 The nesting-place is usually a stretch of rough 

 pebbles or a shingly beach in some quiet bay, a 

 low rocky island, or even a stack of rocks. 

 Although Oyster-catchers cannot be said to breed 

 in colonies, like some of the Gulls and Terns, 

 numbers of nests may be found at no great distance 

 apart. The nest is simple in the extreme a mere 

 hollow, in and round which are neatly arranged flat 

 pebbles and bits of broken shells. As a rule, 

 several mock nests may be found near to the 

 one containing the eggs. These eggs are usually 

 three in number, but sometimes four, pale buff or 



