988 HJEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS. 



In winter specimens which I have examined there is generally a more or less extensive white bar across the upper 

 part of the throat. 



Nestling, in down. Above iron-grey, mottled with buff, darkening into blackish on the throat ; sides of the rump and 

 the tail black ; crown with a large patch of black, and mottlings of the same on each side ; a black stripe through 

 the lores ; two stripes of black down the back, and another along the wings ; beneath white. Bill at front 1-0 inch. 



Further stage. Wings and breast feathered ; crown and ear-coverts pure black ; rest of the head and neck in down as 

 above ; a dark stripe on each side of the chin ; back and wing-coverts brownish black ; primaries and secondaries 

 as in the adult ; tertials and wing-coverts tipped with rufescent ; tail in down still ; a black patch on each side of 

 the fore neck ; the feathers at the junction with the white tipped with rufous ; there is no trace of white across 

 the throat ; below the chest white ; bill at front 1*4 inch, yellow at the base, tip black ; feet yellow. 



Immature, first autumn. Black of the upper surface not so intense as in the adult ; the scapulars and wing-coverts 

 brownish black, tipped finely with fulvous ; the terminal portion of the longer upper tail-coverts black, barred 

 with fulvous or deeply tipped with the same ; coloration of the throat variable, in some with a broad white band 

 running up in a point towards the chm, in others with scarcely a trace of white. 



Obs. The excessive development of the white on the throat in immature birds I believe to be an individual peculiarity. 

 The example above detailed from Ceylon, which must be nearly a year old, is a case in point ; the white throat- 

 band is an iuch wide, and extends forward in a stripe to the chin ; there is more white than usual on the prima- 

 ries and secondaries, extending to the 2nd primary and also to the tertials ; and the upper tail-coverts are entirely 

 white, which is unusual in a bird not fully adult. 



The Chinese form, H. oseulans, Swinh., appears to me scarcely worthy of separation, being merely a somewhat larger, 

 longer-billed form, with perhaps less white on the primaries. Swiuhoe describes the first three primaries as black ; 

 should this character be constant, the race might perhaps be considered distinct. The black tipping of the upper 

 tail-coverts, however, is quite a worthless diagnostic, as it exists in the European bird. 



II. longirostris, Gin., found in Australia, is allied to the European bird, but has the axillaries black and white, and the 

 black of the throat descending upon the breast ; the upper tail-coverts are tipped with black, and the black 

 portions of the plumage glossed with green. It is likewise longer in the wing ; an example in my collection 

 measures — length 17'8 inches ; wing 11-2 ; tail 5-0 ; tarsus 2-3 ; bill at front 3-03. 



H. unicolor, Eorster {H. fuliginosus, Gould), inhabiting the same region, is entirely sooty black. Length 18 - to 18 - 5 

 inches ; wing 11-3 to 1L75 : bill at front 3 - to 3-2. Both these species feed largely on mussels. 



The African Black Oystercatcher is //. moquini, Bp. There are other American species — H. ater and H. palliatus. 



Distribution. — The Oystercatcher is a rare species in Ceylon, and probably not a regular seasonal visitor. 

 It is only found in the north and on the northern half of the west coast; aud during several years' sojourn at 

 Aripu Mr. Holdsworth docs not appear to have met with it. Layard records only seeing one or two specimens 

 in the mouth of January in the Jaffna estuary. In March 1876 I met with about half a dozen on the Jaffna 

 Lake, near Kalmunai Point, several on the Erinativoe Islands, and a small flock on the Manaar flats. In 

 October of the same year I saw three on the curious ledged beach near Chilaw, which would be sure to attract 

 them were there any on that part of the coast. On the east coast I never met with it. 



The range of this species is very great, extending from Greenland, in the south of which several examples 

 have been killed, across the entire continent of Europe, taking in North Africa and a large portion of the east 

 coast of that continent, to Asia, across which it ranges to Japan and China and southward to Ceylon. Jerdon 

 remarks that it is found on both coasts of the peninsula of India ; but as regards the eastern side, I find no 

 record of its having been recently found north of the Godaveri, and it has not been noticed on the Burmese 

 coasts. It is a winter visitor to the west coast, and not uncommon, according to Jerdon, at Tellicherry. 

 Towards the north it is said to be common on the Kutch and Kattiawar coasts, and in Kurrachee harbour 

 Mr. Hume found it to be abundant, and in the hot season it has been noticed there by Capt. Butler ; this gentle- 

 man likewise observed it in numbers at Mandavee. Along the Mekran coast and in the Gulf of Persia it is not 

 uncommon, as also on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Severtzoff says that it breeds in the north-west of 

 Turkestan, the locality being, I presume, the shores of the Sea of Aral or the banks of the Syr-Daria. In 

 Western Siberia it ranges far to the north, as Dr. Finsch observed it on the Ob nearly as high as Obdorsk ; 



