348 CHAEADEIIDiE. 



referring the Tres Marias birds to E. palliatus, which he considers to be " resident 

 along the coast and adjacent islands south of Lower California," notices that some 

 specimens shot out of the same flock were typical E. palliatus, while others had 

 the upper part of the breast mixed with black and white as in H. frazari. He 

 thinks also that " a series from the southern end of California will probably show 

 intergradation between E. palliatus and H. frazari " ^^. Several of the examples 

 in the British Museum also appear to us to be intermediate. Salvin noticed 

 Oyster-catchers at Nagualate on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, which were probably 

 of the present species, and he procured a specimen of ihe true H: palliatus at 

 Chiapam. 



The habits of H. palliatus are similar to those of H. ostralegus, but it appears to be 

 more strictly a bird of the sea-shore, and does not, like the latter, ascend rivers for 

 the purposes of nesting. It is shy and wary, and utters a piping note when alarmed 

 or calling to its mates at night. During the season of migration it occurs in flocks, 

 and the birds perform some pretty aerial evolutions in company. No nest is made, 

 three eggs of a creamy-buff' colour, blotched with dark brown, being deposited in a 

 small depression in the sand, or among stones, their resemblance to which protects 

 them from observation^^. 



2. Haematopus frazari. 



Hamatopus frazari, Brewster, Auk, v. p. 84'; Townsend, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. xiii. p. 138'; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 117 '; A. O. U. Check-list N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. 

 p. ] 05 * ; Elliot, N. Amer. Shore-Birds, p. 210, cum fig.' ; Nelson, N. Ajner. Fauna, no. 14, 

 p. 34'. 



H. paUiato similis, sed saturatior, et pectore summo albo, nigro macolato distingaendns. Long, tota circa IT'O, 

 alae 10-4, caadae 3-8, cnlm. 3'15, tarsi 2-15. (Descr. feminae adoltae ex Ins. " Tres Marias " dictis. ilus. 

 nostr.) 



Eab. Lower California, both coasts, north to Los Coronados Islands *, Carmen I. ^. — 

 W. Mexico, Tres Marias Is. {Forrer ^, Nelson ^). — Peru ^, Chile ^. 



This race of H. palliatus is confined to the western coast of America. It was origi- 

 nally described by Mr. Brewster from Carmen Island in the Gulf of California. 



In outward appearance E. frazari is similar to H. palliatvs, but is of a much darker 

 brown on the back, and the inner primaries show no white. The fore-neck is white, 

 mottled with black spots, and the black throat is not so sharply defined. A specimen 

 from the Zacatula Kiver, refeiTed to H. 'palliatus, though agreeing with the typical 

 form as regards the wing-marking, is darker above and has a mottled chest as in 

 E. frazari, and is apparently intermediate between the two. 



