466 CLASS AVES. 



settlers in Senegal give them the name of criards. The 

 Negroes call them net-net. 



The Oyster Catchers frequent the sea-shore, rocks, 

 naked strands, reefs, &c. When the sea rises, they retire 

 before the tide ; when it ebbs, they follow the reflux, grope in 

 the moist sand for marine-worms, oysters, and other shell 

 animals, on which they feed. They also live on star-fish, 

 crabs, and other Crustacea. Their bill is sufficiently strong 

 to break the fragments of calcareous stone, which the pholades 

 have detached from the banks, in order that they may eat the 

 young animals therein contained. This bill is so conformed 

 that these birds can open oysters with it, without finding any 

 obstacle in the trenchant edges of their shells. 



The oyster-catchers make no nest ; they deposit their eggs 

 on the naked sand, out of the reach of the Avaters ; they chuse 

 for this purpose the elevated parts of downs, and places 

 covered with the debris of shells. They generally lay about 

 five eggs, and the incubation lasts twenty or twenty-one days. 

 The oysters-eaters are found, both in the old and new con- 

 tinents, and are also inhabitants of Polynesia and Australia. 



The Common*ov Pied Oyster-catcher (Hcematopus Ostrale- 

 gus) , has been sometimes called the sea magpie, in consequence 

 of its black and white plumage, and the continual noise which 

 these birds make, especially when they are in flocks. This 

 sharp and short cry, which they repeat incessantly, is re- 

 doubled at the sight of man ; accordingly, fowlers are not 

 fond of meeting with these birds, for their cry is a signal of 

 alarm to the other water-fowl. 



These grallae visit daily those parts of the coast where the 

 fishermen cast away the intestines of the flat-fish, because they 

 find among them an abundance of the small shell animals 

 which these fishes have devoured. They do considerable 

 injury to the fishermen themselves, for as soon as the sea ebbs, 

 and before the latter have time to get to their nets, these 

 birds fall upon the fish which are caught, and tear open their 



