THE OYSTER- < '. 1 T< '// ER. 



529 



space in front. The back and upper parts are ashen-brown, and the primaries dull black. 

 The length of the adult bird is not quite seven inches. 



The handsome Oyster-Catcher is another of our coast birds, and is tolerably plentiful 

 upon the shore. From the black and white hues of its plumage, it is sometimes called the 

 Sea-Pie. 



It generally keeps to the shore, haunting sandy bays, interspersed with partially sub- 

 mersed rocks, and picking up its subsistence with great animation. It feeds mostly on 

 mollusks. mussels and limpets being ordinary articles of its food. It is able to detach the 

 firmly-clinging limpet from the rock by striking a sharp blow with its wedge-like beak, 



OYSTER-CATCHER.— liuematopus ostralegus. 



and detaching the mollusk before it has had time to take the alarm and draw itself firmly 

 against its support. It is swift of foot, and a good swimmer, frequently taking to the 

 water in search of food, and being able* to dive when alarmed. Diving, however, does not 

 seem to be a favorite accomplishment, and is seldom resorted to unless under peculiar 

 circumstances. 



In some parts of Europe, the Oyster-Catcher makes short inland migrations during the 

 summer, but even in such cases it displays its aquatic propensities by keeping near the river 

 banks, and feeding on the worms, slugs, and similar creatures. 



The nest of the Oyster-Catcher is merely a hole scraped in the ground, wherein lie three 

 or four eggs of a yellowish-olive, spotted with gray and brown. They are generally placed on 

 the beach, well above high- water mark, but the bird sometimes makes its home at some distance 

 from the sea. The flat sandy coasts seem to be the localities most favored by the Oyster- 

 Catcher. The young are covered with soft down of a grayish -brown color. 



The head, neck, upper part of the breast, scapularies, quill -feathers, and latter half of the 

 tail-feathers are deep shining black, and the rest of the plumage is pure white. The curious 

 beak is three inches in length, very much compressed — i. e., flattened sideways — and towards 

 the point is thinned off into a kind of wedge or chisel-shaped termination. The rich ruddy 



Voi,. U.— 67. 



