488 PLOVER GROUP. 



lower pai-t of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts being white, and by the white 

 pattern on the primaries being well marked on the outer webs of the fourth and 

 fifth quills of that series. In this species the beak and region round the eye are 

 orange ; all the upper-parts are black, with the exception of the lower-back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts, the basal portion of the tail-feathers, and a band across the 

 wing comprising the greater wing-coverts and some of the secondaries, which are 

 white ; the primaries being also more or less marked with the latter colour. With 

 the exception of the chin, throat, breast, and a few of the wing-coverts, all the 

 under-parts are white. In length, this bird varies from 16 to 17 inches. Migratory 

 in many districts, this species inhabits the whole of Europe, and a considerable 



COHHON OTSTER-CATCHER (^ nat. Size). 



portion of the eastern half of Asia, as well as North Africa ; ranging to the Arctic 

 Circle, and visiting Western India in winter. In Japan, Northern China, Amur- 

 land, etc., it is replaced by the Japanese oyster-catcher {H. oscnlans), distinguished 

 by its long beak, and the white on the primaries not appearing till the sixth quill ; 

 while in the New World its place is taken by the American oyster-catcher {H. 

 palleatus), in which (as in all the New World species) the legs are pale flesh- 

 coloured, while the upper-parts below the black neck are, with the exception of the 

 greater wing-coverts and tail-coverts, brown instead of black. The black species 

 are the Australian black oyster-catcher (H. unicolor), represented by a variety in 

 Africa; and the American black oyster-catcher (H. niger), characterised by the 



