XVII OYSTER-CATCHERS 157 



They lay very large eggs, of a greenish -brown colour 

 mottled with black ; both these birds and pewits soon become 

 tame and familiar if kept in a garden or elsewhere, watching 

 boldly for the worms turned up by the gardener when digging. 

 The oyster-catcher's natural food appears to be shell-fish only ; 

 I see them (Jigging up the cockles with their powerful bill, or 

 detaching the small mussels from the scarps, and swallowing 

 them whole, when not too large ; if, however, one of these birds 

 finds a cockle too large to swallow at once, he digs away at it 

 with the hard point of his bill till he opens it, and then eats the 

 fish, leaving the shell. 



It is a cijrious fact with regard to this bird, that if it drops 

 winged on the sea, it not only swims with great ease, but dives, 

 remaining under water for so long a time, and rising again at 

 such a distance, that I have known one escape out to sea in 

 spite of my retriever, and I have watched the bird swim gallantly 

 and with apparent ease across the bay, or to some bank at a 

 considerable distance off. The feet of the oyster-catcher seem 

 particularly ill adapted for swimming, as the toes are very short 

 and stiff in proportion to the size of the bird. Most of the 

 waders, when shot above the water and winged, will swim for a 

 short distance, but generally with difficulty ; none of them, 

 however, excepting this bird, attempt to dive. 



When in captivity the oyster-catcher eats almost anything 

 that is offered to it. From its brilliant black and white plumage 

 and red bill, as well as from its utility in destroying slugs and 

 snails in the garden, where it searches for them with unceasing 

 activity, it is both ornamental and useful, and worthy of being 

 oftener kept for this purpose where a garden is surrounded by 

 walls ; it will, if taken young, remain with great contentment 

 with poultry without being confined. I have found its nest in 

 different localities, sometimes on the stones and sometimes on the 

 sand close to high-water mark — very often on the small islands 

 and points of land about the river, at a considerable distance 

 from the sea ; its favourite place here is on the carse land 

 between the two branches of the Findhorn near the sea, where 

 it selects some little elevation of the ground just above the 

 reach of the tide, but where at spring-tides the nest must be 

 very often entirely surrounded by the water — I never knew 

 either this or any bird make the mistake of building within 



