102 ORALLY. 



of the shell ; but they soon run well, and are not very long 

 before they are able to fly. 



In autumn they flock in considerable numbers, and in the 

 event of an extraordinary flood washing away their eggs en 

 masse (which happens sometimes, though rarely), they are 

 said to flock immediately, though in the summer ; but whether 

 for a new pairing, is not known. 



The shelled mollusca are the principal food of the oyster- 

 catchers when on the shores, and from that it gets its name, 

 although with us it feeds less upon oysters than on other 

 species, as the oysters are generally beyond its depth ; and 

 though it swims occasionally, it is not a diver. Limpets, 

 muscles, and cockles, are common prize with it. The former 

 it can twitch from the rocks with great certainty, by an 

 oblique tap with its bill. Bivalve shells, when closed, it 

 opens by striking them at the hinge ; and in the case of the 

 cockle, holding the shell steady with its foot, and wrenching 

 with its bill as with ^ crow-bar. When the shores are flat 

 and of a retentive nature, so that the surface remains covered 

 with a small stratum of water while the tide has ebbed, the 

 oyster-catcher finds its prey readily, as the shells of the 

 bivalves are then partially opened, and it can insert its 

 wedge-shaped bill and wrench them asunder; but where the 

 sand soon dries, and there are no rocks on which limpets can 

 be had, it follows the line of the water, both in its retreat 

 and its advance ; and in those cases, it is sometimes caught 

 in the waves, and floated out a little way, but it has the 

 power of always gaining the land. From the quantity and 

 closeness of its feathers, it wades rather deep in the water ; 

 but as its toes are not webbed so that it can raise the body 

 by a downward stroke of the feet, it cannot take wing from 

 deep wading. 



The flesh of the mature oyster-catcher is tough and some- 



