HZMATOPUS. 181 
plumage, but head, etc., more grayish, and feathers of upper parts margined 
terminally with pale buffy or whitish. Length about 9.00, wing 5.80-6.10, 
culmen .85-1.00, tarsus 1.00-1.10. Zyggs 1.62 x 1.12, similar in coloration to 
those of A. interpres. Hab. Pacific coast of North America, north to Aleu- 
tian Islands, south to Monterey, California; accidental in India. 
284. A. melanocephala (Vic.). Black Turnstone. 
Famity HA®MATOPODIDAL.—TheE OystTer-caTcHERS. (Page 143.) 
Genera. 
(Characters same as those given for the Family).. Hamatopus. (Page 181.) 
Genus HASMATOPUS Linnavus. (Page 181, pl. LL, fig. 2.) 
(West on or near sea-beach, consisting of a mere depression in sand, gravel, or 
shingle. Eggs 2-4, ovate, light olive or olive-buffy, speckled or spotted with dark 
brown, blackish, and purplish gray.) 
Species. 
Common CHaracters.—Bill bright red in the adult (drying to dull reddish or 
yellowish); head, neck, and upper parts blackish (plumage entirely blackish in 
some species). 
a. Plumage parti-colored or pied (white beneath). 
. Entire rump and lower back white. 
Adult: Head, neck, chest, and upper parts blackish; lower back, 
rump, upper tail-coverts, base of tail, greater wing-coverts, and 
lower parts white. Adult in winter: “Differs from summer plu- 
mage in having a white patch on throat, and the white spot under 
the eye is rather larger.” (DrzssEer.) Young: Similar, but black 
portions more brown, the feathers of back and wings with rusty 
borders, bill more brownish, ete. Downy young: “ Head, neck, and 
upper parts generally sooty grayish, the down tipped with rusty 
buff, and variegated, especially on the crown and back, with black ; 
under-parts below throat black.” (Dresser.) Length about 16.00, 
wing about 10.25, culmen 3.10, depth of bill at base .55, tarsus 2.00, 
middle toe 1.40. Eggs 2.23 x 1.54, deep dull buff, sharply spotted 
(sometimes lined also) with vandyke-brown, brownish black, and 
purplish gray. Hab. Sea-coasts of Europe, and of parts of Asia 
and Africa; occasional in Greenland. 
285. H. ostralegus Linn. Oyster-catcher. 
b. Entire rump and lower back dusky. 
c. Breast white, like belly, etc.; bill very stout, its greatest depth forward 
of nostril exceeding .45 of an inch; middle toe, with claw, more 
than 1.75. 
