ON THE OYSTERCATCHERS. 47 
brick-red, but deep crimson. It can scarcely be regarded as more 
than subspecifically distinct from the Australian form. It is 
distributed along the entire coast of South Africa, ranging as far 
north as the Canary Islands in the west, and into the Red Sea in 
the east. It probably breeds south of the line, only wandering 
northwards in the autumn (about March). 
These two forms represent the Pacific Old World group of 
Oystercatchers, which may be characterised as having the whole 
of the plumage black, and the legs red. 
7. Hematopus ostralegus.—As has already been suggested, we 
find that the East and West Atlantic Oystercatchers differ more 
from each other than the Kast and West Pacific ones do. The 
European Oysterecatcher differs from the North American Pied 
Oystercatcher in many important particulars besides the colour of 
its legs. Like all the Old World Oystercatchers, it has red legs— 
perhaps dull crimson expresses the exact shade of red. The 
under parts are precisely like those of its ally, but its lower back, 
rump, and upper tail-coverts are white, whereas in the latter the 
upper tail-coverts only are white. 
In treating of the Pacific Oystercatchers we found that the 
difference in the conformation of the land in the Old World from 
that in the New World caused the emigration of the two parties 
to proceed on different lines. Precisely the same difference is to 
be found in the distribution of the two Atlantic parties, owing to 
the same cause. The distribution of the European Oyster- 
catcher, to quote from my ‘History of British Birds,’ is as 
follows :— 
“The West Palearctic species ranges from the Atlantic to the 
valley of the Obb. In the western portion of its distribution it is 
almost exclusively a sea-shore bird, but east of the Black and 
White Seas it is only found during the breeding-season on the 
shores of lakes and rivers. It is a regular summer visitor to the 
coasts of North-west Europe as far north as land extends, and as 
far east as Archangel; but further east it is no longer found on 
the sea-shore, and ascends the Volga and the Kama, crossing over 
to the Petchora, on the banks of which river, as also on those of 
the Obb, it only ranges as far north as the Arctic circle. It is a 
summer visitor to the shores of the Baltic, but on the coasts of 
North Germany, Great Britain, and France it is a resident. In 
the basin of the Mediterranean it is principally known as passing 
