ORDER GRALL.f:. 44)J 



bellies in search of the shell-fish, which they may contain. 

 The flesh of the oyster-catcher is black and hard, and has a 

 fishy taste. Some people, however, think it agreeable, while 

 others reject it altogether — so true is it, that there is no dis- 

 puting about tastes. The flesh of the young is, at all events, 

 more eatable than that of the old. 



The four or five eggs laid by the oyster-catcher are 

 greyish, and spotted with black. The female does not cover 

 them very assiduously. She does in this respect, says Buffbn, 

 what almost all birds frequenting the sea coasts are in the 

 habit of doing ; she leaves, during a portion of the day, the 

 care of keeping the eggs warm to the heat of the sun, quitting 

 them usually at nine or ten in the morning, and not returning 

 before three in the afternoon, excepting it should happen to 

 rain. A down of a brownish-grey covers the young ones at the 

 time of their exclusion ; from the very first day they begin to 

 trail themselves along ; in a very little time they can run ; and 

 then they conceal themselves in tufts of herbage, so that it is 

 difficult to find them out. 



This species is spread throughout Europe, and is sometimes 

 seen in pretty numerous flocks, in France, on the sea-coasts, 

 where it is even found to nestle. It is common in Great Britain, 

 particularly on our western coasts. Oyster- catchers are also 

 to be found in Gothland, in the islands of Denmark, as far as 

 Iceland, and in Norway ; they are spread over the shores of 

 the Caspian Sea ; they also frequent North America, and the 

 extremities of its southern coasts. Dampier declares that he 

 has met them on the shores of New Holland, but it is not 

 improbable that he may have confounded them with distinct 

 races, or varieties since observed. 



The Coursers are peculiar to the coasts of Asia and 

 Africa. Of their history nothing is known, excepting that 

 they frequent the sea-shore, and run with extreme rapidity. 



The single species which constitutes the genus Caeiama, 



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