THE OYSTER-CATCHER, OR SEA PIE. 171 



often than not he joins the female by flying iip to her. The female very seldom takes wing. She is 

 very cautious, and, if she is not satisfied that all is right, will pass and repass the nest several times 

 before she finally settles upon it. She rarely remains upon the post of observation long, but the male 

 often remains for ten minutes or more upon one tussock of a ridge, watching the movements of the 

 female. 



" We walked some distance before we came upon a second pair ; but at length we heard the well- 

 known cry, and got into position. We spent nearly two hours over this nest, and were quite at sea 

 by the end of the time. We changed our position several times, but to no purpose. The female went 

 here, and there, and everywhere, as much as to say, ' I'm not going on to the nest as long as you are 

 near.' At last the mosquitoes fairly tired us out, and we gave up the watching game, and commenced 

 a search. We soon found out the secret of the bird's behaviour, when we picked up some broken egg- 

 shells, and concluded at once that the bird had young. We tried to find them, but in vain. These 

 two hours, however, were not wasted. The birds came nearer to me than they had ever done before. 

 I often watched them at a distance of not more than ten yards, and was able to hear their notes more 

 distinctly. The note most frequently used is a single plaintive whistle, kop, long drawn out, the o 

 pronounced as in German, and the consonants scarcely sounded. This, I am almost sure, is the alarm- 

 note. It is principally uttered by the female when she looks round and sees something that she dis- 

 approves of. If the male shows any anxiety about the nest, which he seems to do more and more as 

 incubation progresses, he also utters the same note. The double note, kl-ee or kleep, the kl dwelt upon, 

 so as to give it the value of a separate syllable, is also uttered by both birds. It is evidently their 

 call-note. I have seen the female, when she has been running away from the male, turn sharp round 

 and look towards him when he has uttered this note, exactly as one might do who heard his 

 name called. Whilst we were watching this pair of birds a couple of other Grey Plovers came up, 

 and called as they flew past. The male answered the call and flew towards them. On the wing this 

 whistle is lengthened out to three notes. I had some difficulty in. catching this note exactly. It is not 

 so often uttered as the two others I have mentioned, and is generally heard when you least expect it ; 

 but I am almost sure it is a combination of the alarm-note with the call-note kl-ee-kop. If I wanted to 

 make a free translation from Plovcrski into English, I should say that kl-ee means ' Hallo ! old fellow ! ' 

 and kop means, ' Mind what you are about ! ' " 



Mr. Seebohm's notes, of which the above are only a fraction, also give accounts of other Wading- 

 birds and Plovers which he met with during his adventurous jo'irney, but they are too long to be 

 quoted here. The Asiatic Golden Plover (Charadriusfidvus) is a bird which in appearance is a slender 

 long-legged form of the common Golden Plover (CJiaradrius pluvialis). To the naturalist the Grey 

 and Golden Plovers are easily distinguishable, for on lifting the wing the black axillary feathers of the 

 Grey Plover are very striking, these being white in the Golden Plover, and smoke-grey in the 

 Asiatic Golden Plover. The colour of the axillary feathers is a useful character in distinguishing 

 the young birds, as the Grey Plover in its first autumn plumage is spotted with golden, and might 

 easily be mistaken for a Golden Plover. The Sand Plovers (jEyialititi), of which the common Ring 

 Dottrel (^E. hiatlcula) of England is a type, have similar habits and food to the larger species spoken 

 of above, but they frequent more the beach and sandy shores of the sea, lakes, and rivers, laying four 

 eggs in a slight depression in the sand, and the young, when first hatched, run about, and on thg 

 approach of danger squat down, when the assimilation of their colour to the surrounding shingle or 

 sand serves to conceal them admirably. 



THE THIRD SUB-FAMILY OF THE PLOVERS. THE OYSTER-CATCHERS (Hcematopodina:}. 



The Oyster-catcher, or Sea Pie, as it is often called, from its black and white coloration, is 

 often seen in England in considerable numbers on the shore, or in small parties of five or six together, 

 in the autumn. These latter generally consist of a family of birds, which have been hatched in the 

 more northern parts of England, and are now on their way southward. Single birds are by no means 

 difficult to obtain at that season of the year, as their whistle can be easily imitated, and thus the bird 

 can be attracted within range. In April the flocks disperse for the breeding-season, the Oyster- 

 catcher nesting on the rocky shores near the sea, generally in unfrequented places. It is one of the 

 handsomest of the Waders, being of a black and white colour, with a red bill and purplish-red legs. 



