CHAEADEimaj H^MATOPUS 377 



Ayres, while Major Sparrow has taken fresh eggs at Mooi Eiver 

 in Natal on August 14. 



Mr. Harris gives a very detailed account of the nesting habits of 

 this bird near Knysna, illustrated by some life-Iiiie and character- 

 istic photographs. The eggs are very difficult to find ; they are 

 placed in a slight hollow in the sand and covered with a few small 

 stones and bark ; when the hen leaves them, a final kick with her 

 foot dusts over the spot. The eggs, which are two in number, are 

 rather shorter and more pyriform than those of ^. marginata ; 

 the ground colour is a creamy-buff, with a slight greenish tinge, 

 they are very thickly covered with irregular streaks and scrolls of 

 very dark brown, with underlying greenish-brown markings of the 

 same nature ; they measure about 1-24: x 0-95. 



Subfamily II. H^MATOPODIN^. 

 Bill very long ; tarsus reticulated throughout. 



Genus I. HiEMATOPUS. 



Type. 



Hsemotopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 257 



(1766) H. ostralegus. 



Bill long, compressed and almost straight, culmen longer than 

 the head or tarsus ; angle of the mandible nearer the gape than the 

 tip ; nostrils elongate in a groove confined to the proximal half of 

 the bill ; wings long ; first primary the longest ; tail nearly square ; 

 tarsus short, but slightly longer than the middle toe and claw, 

 covered with reticulate scales all round ; no hind toe ; a basal web 

 between the middle and outer toe ; toes stout with broad soles. 



The Oyster Catchers form a compact genus containing about 

 twelve species spread all over the world ; only one of these is found 

 in South Africa. 



733. Hsematopus moquini. Black Oyster Catcher. 



Haematopus niger, {nee Pall.) Temm. Man. Orn. ii, p. 533 (1820) ; 



Gray, Gen. B. iii, pi. 146 (1847). 

 Ostralega capensis, Liclii. Vers:. Douhl. p. 73 (1823) [nom. nud.] . 

 Hsematopus moquini, Bp. C. B. xliii, p. 1020 (1856) ; Gurney, Ibis, 



1862, p. 34 [Natal]; Layarcl, B. S. Afr. p. 300 (1867); Gnrney, in 



