Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



310 



H^MATOPUS. 



however, that in a large series from each locality the longest-billed examples from Africa 

 would be indistinguishable from the shortest-billed examples from Australia. 



It is distributed along the entire coast of South Africa, ranging as far north as the 

 Canary Islands in the west, and into the Red Sea in the east. It probably breeds south 

 of the line, only wandering northwards in the autumn (about March). It is a somewhat 

 remarkable fact that it has not been recorded from Madagascar. 



H^MATOPUS NIGER. 



NOBTH-AMEBICAN BLACK 0Y8TEBCATCHEB. 



Diagnosis. HjEmatopus omnino niger : pedibus pallide carneis. 



Synonymy. 



Literature. 



Variations. The North-American and South-American Black Oystercatchers appear completely to 

 intergrade. 



Hsematopus niger, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 131 (1826). 

 Hsematopus bachmaiini, Audubon, Orn. Biogr. v. p. 245 (1839). 



Plates. — Aud. Orn. Biogr. pi. 427 ; And. Birds Am. pi. 325. 

 Habits.— Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 1J6. 

 Eggs, described by Brewer on p. 118 of the above-mentioned volume. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The North-American Black Oystercatcher, like all the Oystercatchers of the New 

 World, has pale flesh-coloured legs, but, like all the Oystercatchers which passed through 

 the Behriug Sea, the whole of its plumage has become hlack. 



This species is a summer visitor to the Aleutian Islands and the southern shores of 

 Alaska, breeding as far south as the coast of Upper California, where it is probably a 

 resident, and wintering on the coast of Lower California. 



