2S 



CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



afford them an opportunity for venting their exuberant spirits, the males will harry and annoy 

 each other until their fury rising, the strife that apparently began in sport terminates in a real battle, 

 during which the antagonists strike each other most mercilessly with their wings and beak. Towards 

 men they exhibit extreme shyness, and, except during the breeding season, scarcely permit his 

 approach. In this particular, however, they show much intelligence, and readily distinguish the 

 shepherd or fishermen from their enemy the sportsman. "After the breeding season," says 

 Macgillivray, " the Sea Pies, especially plentiful in the Scottish Isles, form flocks that are 

 frequently very numerous, being composed of from twenty to one hundred individuals or more. 



W ,^ ; ~"" v' ' 





* - SS^ 



jp^jb 



THE PIED OYSTER-CATCHER, OR SEA PIE (Hizmatopus OStraleglts). 



At this period they are met with chiefly on the low rocky shores, or at the mouths of rivers, 

 where at low water they obtain their food, which consists of limpets, barnacles, small bivalve shells 

 swallowed entire, young crabs, and other marine animals. Although frequently seen on extensive low 

 sands, they seem rather to betake themselves thither for security than for the purpose of looking for 

 food. On low, pebbly, muddy, or sandy shores they always prefer the edge of the water, in which 

 they wade, although they search the exposed parts. Limpets and barnacles form their chief food; but, 

 although they have been said to eat oysters and large bivalve mollusca, I have not found such animals 

 in their stomach. The bivalve shells found in their gizzard or oesophagus are generally, when of small 

 size, either entire or merely crushed, but when large, are deprived in a greater or less degree of 

 their testaceous envelopes. Along with their food they swallow particles of gravel, frequently of 

 considerable size. I have found some a quarter of an inch in diameter." 



