COMiMON OYSTERCATCHER. 
495 
dusky brown : the irides are brown, and the feet 
grey, and before the autumnal or second moult 
the beak becomes spotted with black. 
It varies occasionally in having a white streak 
beneath the eyes, and a transverse one on the 
throat 5 it also occurs mottled with black and 
white, and of a pure white, but this last is of rare 
appearance. 
Oystercatchers abound on the coasts of Eng- 
land, and are in the greatest profusion towards 
the west : they feed on limpets and oysters, and 
from their dexterity in procuring the latter their 
name is derived : on observing one of them which 
gapes wide enough to insert its beak, it thrusts it 
in and thus takes out the inhabitant. It does not 
construct any nest, but deposits its eggs on the 
bare ground, above high-water mark ; they are 
generally four in number,* of an olivaceous brown, 
blotched with black, and are arranged in the form 
of a square, with the small ends inward, thus giving 
the greatest security and warmth to each. The 
young are hatched in about three weeks, and are 
said to be capable of running as soon as they quit 
the eggs, and are immediately led by the parents 
to their proper food. During the period of incu- 
bation the male is very watchful, and upon the 
least alarm utters a loud scream and flies off, as 
does also the female, after running some distance 
from the place where the eggs are deposited. In 
the winter they often associate in considerable 
* Temminck says two, and but rarely three. 
