246 H^MATOPODID^, OYSTER-CATCHERS, TURNSTONES. GEN. 194, 195. 



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Family HiEMATOPODID^. Oyster-catchers. Turnstones. 



A small family of two genera and six or eight species, with the bill hard, 

 and either acute or truncate, the nasal fossse short, broad and shallow; the 

 legs short, stout, brightly-colored. The two following genera differ much. 

 Hcematojnis is 3-toed, with much basal webbing, the tarsi reticulate; the 

 bill longer than the tarsus, stout, straight, constricted toward the base, 

 compressed aud truncate at the end, somewhat like a woodpecker's; it is an 

 efEcieut instrument for prying open the shells of bivalve mollusks. Strejosilas 

 is 4-toed, with no obvious basal webbing ; the tarsi scutellate in front, the 

 bill sharp-pointed, not longer than the tarsus ; its scientific aud vernacular 

 names are both derived from its curious habit of turning over pebbles along 

 the beach in search of food. There is but one species, cosmopolitan. 



194. Genus H^MATOPUS LinnEeus. 

 Oyster-catcher. Head and neck blackish tinged with brown or ashy ; 



back ashy-bi-owu ; below from the breast, eyelid, rump, tips of greater 



wing coverts, most sec- 

 ondaries, aud basal part 

 of tail feathers, white ; 

 rest of tail, and quills, 

 blackish ; bill and edges 

 of eyelids red or orange; 

 legs flesh color; 17-18; 

 wing 10; tail 4J ; bill 3. 

 FIG. 157. Bill or oyster-catci.er. Atlantic coast ; California 



(Cooper). WiLS., viii, 15, pi. 64; NuTT.,ii, 15; Aud., v, 236, pi. 324 ; 



Cass. iuBo., 699 palliatus. 



s' Blade Oyster-catcher. Nearly uniform blackish or sooty brown ; the head 

 and neck frequentlj' with an ashy shade. Size of the foregoing. Pacific 

 coast. Cass, in Bd., 700. H. toivnsendii Aud., v, 243, pi. 325. niger. 

 Oijs. II. bachmani Aud., v, 245, pi. 326 ; II. ater Cass, in Bd., 700 (if really 

 distinct from the last, which is doubtful), is a South American species improperly 

 attributed to our fauna. 



195. Genus STREPSILAS Linnseus. 



'-' Turnstone. Brant Bird. Calico-bach. Adult in summer ^oied above 

 with black, white, brown and chestnut-red, the latter color wanting in 

 winter, and in young birds ; below, from the 

 breast (which is more or less completely black) , 

 throat, most of the secondaries, bases and 

 shafts of primaries, and bases and tips (;f tail 

 feathers, white ; bill black ; feet orange ; 8-9 ; 

 wing5J-6; tail 2 J ; bill ^, almost recurved, with 



ascending gonys ; ttirsus 1 ; tibite bare but a little tig. iss. Bin of Turnstone, 

 way. Both coasts, abundant during the migrations. Wils., vii, 32, pi. 57, f. 

 1; NuTT., ii, 30; Aud., v, 231, pi. 323; Cass, in Bd., 701. interpres. 



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