Food. 
200 GRALLAT. HAMATOPUS. OystTerR-CatTcHER. 
COMMON OYSTER-CATCHER. 
Hemarorus Ostratecus, Linn. 
PLATE XXXIII. Fies. 1. 2. 
Heematopus ostralegus, Linn. Syst. 1. 257.—Gmel. Syst. 1. 694.—Lath. 
Ind. Ornith. 2. 752. 1.—Raii Syn. 105. A. 7.— Will. 220. 55.—Shaw’s 
Zool. 11. 494. pl. 36.—Flem. Brit. Anim. 1. 115. sp. 167. 
Ostralega seu Pica marina, Briss. Orn. 5. 38. t. 3. f. 2. 
L’Huiterier, Buff. Ois. 8. 119. t. 9.—Id. pl. Enl. 929. 
L’Huiterier Pie, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 2. 531. 
Geschackte Austern-Fischer, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. 439. 
Sea Pie, or Pied Oyster-Catcher, Penn. Br. Zool. 2. No. 213. pl. 74. in 
Winter Plumage.—Arct. Zool. 2. 406.—Will. (Angl.) 297.—Albin. 1. 
t. 78.—Lath. Syn. 5. 219. t. 84.—Lewin’s Br. Birds, 5. t. 188.—Mont. 
Ornith. Dict. Id. Sup.— Wail. Syn. 2. t. 166.—Pult. Cat. Dorset. p. 151. 
Bewick’s Br. Birds, 2. t. p. 7.—Low’s Faun. Orcad. p. 91. 
Common Oyster-Catcher, Shaw’s Zool. 11. 494. pl. 36.—Flem. Br. Anim. 
1. 115. sp. 169. 
ProvincrAL—Pianet, Sea Piet, Olive, Sea Woodcock, Trillichan, 
Chalder, Chaldrick, Skildrake, Scolder. 
Tue peculiar form of the bill, by which this bird is ena- 
bled to wrench open oysters, muscles, &c. (by inserting its 
wedge-shaped point between the valves, as these shell-fish 
lay partially open in shallow water), has given rise to the 
British trivial name, now attached to the genus. In addition 
to bivalves, it feeds much upon the limpet (patella), detach- 
ing it with equal ease from the rock to which it adheres, and 
afterwards scooping out the fish from its shell by means. of 
the same powerful instrument. This species is indigenous, 
and distributed along the whole extent of the British coast, 
but seems to be more numerous upon extensive flat shores, 
particularly those of Lincolnshire and of the Solway Frith, 
where it finds its favourite food, viz. the bivalve shell-fish, 
more abundant than where the coast is of a more abrupt and 
rocky character. It breeds upon the shore, laying its eggs 
on the bare ground amongst the shingle, or in such scanty 
herbage as grows immediately above high water-mark. The 
