302 



h.5:matopus. 



Literature. Plates. — Daub. PI. Enl. no. 929; Gould, Birds of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 44; Dresser, Birds of Europe, 



vii. pi. 533. 

 Habits. — Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 4. 

 Eggs. — Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 24. 



Specific 

 characters. 



The European Oystercatcher differs from the North-American Pied Oystercatcher in 

 many important particulars besides the colour of its legs. Like all the Old- World Oyster- 

 catchers, it has red legs — perhaps dull crimson expresses the exact shade of red. The 

 Tinderparts are precisely like those of its ally ; but its lower hack, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 are white, whereas in the latter the upper tail-coverts only are white. The predominant 

 colour of the secondaries, on the other hand, is black in the Pied Oystercatchers of the Old 

 World, and white in those of the New World. 



It may be recognized by having the white on the primaries well marked on the outer 

 webs of the fourth and fifth, first appearing on the outside web of the third quill, and on 

 the inside web of the first. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The West Palsearctic species ranges from the Atlantic to the valley of the Obb. In 

 the western portion of its distribution it is almost exclusively a sea-shore bird, but east of 

 the Mediterranean and the White Sea it is only found during the breeding-season on the 

 shores of lakes and rivers. It is a regular smnmer visitor to the coasts of North-west 

 Europe as far north as land extends, and as far east as Archangel. Further east it is no 

 longer found on the sea-shore, but ascends all the great rivers which empty themselves into 

 the Black Sea, as well as the Volga and the Kama, crossing over to the Petchora, on the 

 banks of which river, as also on those of the Obb, it ranges as far north as the Arctic 



