H. PALLIATUS : AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER. lyj 



FAM. H^MATOPODID^ : OYSTER-CATCHER. 



AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER. 



H^MATOPUS PALLiATUS Temm. 



Chars. Feet, 3-toed, very stout and rough, red. Bill, stout, 

 straight, longer than head, much compressed, truncate at ends 

 something like a Woodpecker's, red. Head and neck sooty 

 blackish, changing to blackish-brown on the back and wings. 

 Under parts of the neck, white ; a large white space on the 

 wings. A red ring around eyes. Sexes alike. Length about 

 18.00; extent, 34.00 ; wing, 10.00; tail, 4.25 ; bill, 3.00 or 4.00 ; 

 tarsus, 2.50. 



This curious bird, though not particularly southern, 

 and common enough along the coasts of the Middle 

 States, where it breeds, is nevertheless a very rare spe- 



FiG. 39. — Bill of Oyster-Catcher. Natural size. 



cies in New England now, however common it may for- 

 merly have been. The Oyster-catcher is confined 

 strictly to the sea-coast, and is one of the wildest and 

 wariest of the beach birds — facts which may account in 

 part for its scarcity along shores where men are plenti- 

 ful. Among the old records of its appearance are those 



