090 1LEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS. 



its favourite food, the limpet and the whelk ; and as illustrative of its adroitness I transcribe the following 

 interesting paragraph, contained in Mr. E. Gray's ' Birds of West Scotland/ and quoted by Mr. Dresser in 

 the ' Birds of Europe ' : — 



" I recollect seeing about thirty in a flock pitch upon a shelving rock, from which the waves had just 

 receded, and commence an attack upon the limpets, which were very numerous. Being within three or four 

 yards of them, I could distinctly perceive their movements, and could not help being struck with their dexterity 

 in overturning the shells and scooping out their contents. Sometimes a bird would run forward to a limpet, 

 and bend down its head sideways, as if in a listening attitude ; then it passed to another and another, repeating 

 the scrutiny, apparently to see if the shell was at all raised from the rock, until it found one ready for treat- 

 ment, which it immediately put in force by thrusting its thin pointed bill suddenly between the edge of the 

 limpet and its point of attachment, and turning it neatly over. One foot was then placed on the object and 

 the animal taken out as clearly as if done with a knife or other sharp instrument. Another favourite feeding- 

 ground is some sheltered bay, where a pair or two will often station themselves for a few hours, boring the wet 

 sand for annelids, which I have seen them pull out of their burrows, and carry to the water for a slight rinsing 

 before being swallowed." 



Mr. Thompson made many observations as to the feeding of the Oystereatcher in Ireland, and he found 

 the stomachs of those he examined to contain chiefly mussels, whelks (with their opercula), and limpets. 

 Twenty-five well-sized limpets and about fifty opercula of whelks were found in the crop and gizzard of one 

 example, and in another were a quantity of tender roots and green leaves, with white worm-like larvae. 



The Oystereatcher swims well, and sometimes takes to the water of its own accord, unlike most members 

 of the family. Mr. Durnford remarks that he saw one swimming in the sea off the North-Frisian island of 

 Sylt. 



Nidification. — The Oystereatcher breeds in May and June, nesting on shingle near the water or on sand 

 banks or stretches of gravel, and sometimes several pair lay not far from each other. The last-mentioned 

 writer speaks of finding about a hundred pairs breeding in one locality in North Frisia. The nest is a hollow 

 scraped in the shingle or sand, and is sometimes lined with a stray leaf or two or a few grass-bents, but often 

 devoid of any lining at all. A curious site is recorded by Mr. Dresser as having been observed by a naturalist 

 in Norway, and which was a hollow on the top of a felled pine log, in which a nest was constructed. The 

 eggs are three or four in number, and are broad ovals, some slightly pointed at the small end, others scarcely 

 so. A fine series of Mr. Seebohm's now before me are of various shades of grey and stone-buff, and are 

 characterized by their black, bold, somewhat regular-edged and openly-distributed markings, beneath which 

 are small and indistinct bluish-grey spots ; the larger spots are collected round the large end, but are not, as a 

 rule, closely set ; in some they take the form of immense blotches or clouds, and these eggs are marked with 

 a few dark grey underlying clouds ; two have the obtuse end covered with broad hieroglyphic-like streaks 

 crossed and recrossed over one another. They vary in size from 2'31 by F53 inch to 2"0 by F55, the latter 

 dimensions being those of a very short, rounded egg. A long pointed specimen measures 2'35 by l - 48 inch. 



