AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER. 183 



fiand and broken shells, where, on account of their dull greyish-colour, it 

 is very difficult to see them unless you pass within a foot or two of them, 

 when they run off emitting a plaintive note, which renders the parents 

 doubly angry. Their shape is now almost round, and the streaks of 

 their back and rump, as well as the curved points of their bills, might in- 

 duce you to believe them to be any thing but the young of an Oyster- 

 Catcher. I have caught some, which I thought were more than a month 

 old, and yet were unable to fly, although full feathered. Thev appeared 

 weakened by their fatness, and were overtaken by running after them on the 

 sands. There were no parent birds near or in sight of them ; yet I much 

 doubt if they procured their own food at this period, and have more rea- 

 son to believe that, like some other species of birds, they were visited and 

 supplied with food at particular hours of the day or of the night, as is the 

 case with Herons and Ibises, for the Oyster- Catcher is scarcely nocturnal. 



By the beginning of October these birds return to the south. I saw 

 them at Labrador until the 11th of August, but cannot say at what period 

 they leave that country. When wounded while wading or on the shore, 

 they make for the water, on which they float buoyantly and move with ease. 



The flight of the American Oyster-catcher is powerful, swift, elegant 

 at times, and greatly protracted. While they are on wing, their beau- 

 ties are as effectually displayed as those of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker 

 of our woods, the colours of which are somewhat similar. The transpa- 

 rent white of their wings contrasts with their jettj^ tips, and is enriched 

 by the coral hue of the bill, while the beautiful white of their lower parts 

 has a very pleasing effect. Their loud cries, too, of wheep, wheep, xvheeop, 

 which sound in your ears, are quite different from any you have heard ; and 

 as they perform their various evolutions, all charming in themselves, you 

 cannot, if unacquainted with the bird, refrain from asking what it is ? 

 Now wheeling with wonderful impetuosity, they pass within a hundred 

 yards of you, and suddenly checking their flight return, not low over 

 the waters as before, but high in the air. Again, they form their ranks 

 in a broad front, and again, as if suddenly alarmed by the report of a 

 distant gun, they close pell-mell, and dip towards the sands or the waters. 

 Shoot one at such a moment, and you may expect to kill another ; but 

 as this is done, the wary birds, as if suddenly become aware of your in- 

 tentions, form themselves into a straggling line, and before a minute has 

 f lapsed, far beyond reach, and fading on the view, are the remaining 

 Oyster- catchers. 



