" The Oyster Catcher is a handsome bird." 



THE OYSTER CATCHER 



HETHEll seen upon the 

 wing, or standing in 

 solemn meditation where 

 the waves ripple along 

 the shores of some far- 

 stretching sandy bay, the 

 Oyster Catcher is a hand- 

 some bird. Its well 

 denned black and white plumage renders 

 it conspicuous almost anywhere, and the 

 dullest student of Nature can never 

 forget the bird's loud clear voice once it 

 has been heard. 



Whilst staying on the Fame Islands, 

 and at other places where this species 

 breeds, I have heard the birds uttering 

 their clamorous chatter in chorus during 

 every hour of the night. 



It lives upon all kinds of mollusca, 

 and is particularly dexterous in detach- 



ing limpets from their native rocks 

 with its wedge-like orange-coloured bill. 

 The Oyster Catcher breeds generally 

 round our coasts where suitable localities 

 are to be found, and in Scotland on the 

 banks of rivers and lochs, often at a 

 considerable distance from the sea. 

 Sometimes quite a number of pebbles 

 and shells are collected wherewith to 

 line the nest, and at others the eggs 

 may be found on shingle, sand, or even 

 bare rock, with little or nothing in the 

 shape of a lining to the slight hollow 

 selected for their reception. In the 

 Shetlands I have found the bird breeding 

 upon a most unlikely ledge of rock 

 some ten feet above the shore, and at the 

 Fame Islands young ones have been 

 hatched for years in succession on the 

 top of an old wall seven or eight feet in 



