52 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



OYSTKK CATCHKR'S NEST. 



height. I am also aware of the same 

 nest being used year after year in the 

 Outer Hebrides. Although the Oyster 

 Catcher is a very sagacious bird, and 

 generally lays her eggs well above high- 

 water mark, on rare occasions she is 

 caught napping, and her little declivity 

 in the sand or shingle is inundated by 

 a high tide. 



Whilst waiting to secure the photo- 

 graph from which our plate has been 

 made I learnt that the male bird 

 takes his share in the work of incuba- 

 tion. When his turn to sit upon the 



eggs came he was very mistrustful of 

 the lens staring from the walls of my 

 improvised stone house, and instead 

 of walking on to the nest, he strode 

 solemnly round and round, turning 

 over small stones with his bill, picking 

 up pebbles and showing every sign 

 of anger. 



The eggs generally number three, 

 although sometimes two, and occasion- 

 ally four, are found. They are cream 

 or yellowish stone in ground colour, and 

 spotted, blotched, and streaked with 

 dark brown and grey. 



The young ones, both in down and in 

 their first coat of feathers, harmonise 

 very closely with their natural sur- 

 roundings, and upon the first sign of 

 danger, which is generally detected 

 from afar by their ever watchful parents, 

 crouch flat upon the ground and remain 

 perfectly still until they are re-assured 

 by a warning note from one or other 

 of the old birds. In the winter Oyster 

 Catchers frequently consort with curlews 

 upon the seashore. 



