Oyster-catchers 



woodcock, and sea parrot. The oyster-catcher is a shy bird, con- 

 stantly on the alert, and it is no easy matter to steal upon one close 

 enough to watch it at work. Walking with stately dignity along 

 the lower beach, striking its bill into the sand, often up to the nos- 

 trils, suddenly it stops at a glimpse of an intruder, and with shrill 

 notes of alarm springs into the air and is off, not in a short flight, 

 as the confiding little plovers and sandpipers make, soon to return, 

 but away down the beach, often out of sight. Another time you 

 will have learned to rely on a powerful field glass to lessen the 

 distance between you. 



But this bird, so quick to move out of harm's way, is a past 

 master in the art of stealing upon bivalves unawares when they 

 are lying about on the beaches with their shells open, and prying 

 the shells apart until the delectable morsels are cut from them and 

 swallowed. Whoever has had his finger pinched between mus- 

 sel shells will not be surprised at the crooked, jagged blade the 

 oyster-catcher often carries about. When the bird finds its bill 

 hopelessly caught in a vise, it simply lifts the razor clam, " racoon 

 oyster," or whatever its captor may be, knocks it against a rock 

 until the shell is broken, and then feasts. Limpets are pried off 

 rocks as if with a chisel. Again the oyster-catcher wades into 

 the shallows for shrimps and other little marine creatures. No 

 doubt it can swim well too, owing to the partial webbing of its 

 toes; but rapid running and still more rapid flying usually make 

 other accomplishments superfluous. With tough, unsavory flesh 

 to save if from sportsmen's persecutions, it is a timid bird, never- 

 theless. It does not live in large flocks ; solitary, or with two or 

 three companions only, it dwells far from the haunts of men and 

 apart from those sociable beach birds that are too confiding for 

 self-preservation. A striking, handsome wader on the ground, 

 it is even more attractive as it flies with a few friends, showing 

 its glistening white under parts as it wheels about overhead 

 with great regularity of manoeuvre. Rapid wing beats and fre- 

 quent sails make its flight strong, yet extremely graceful. A 

 quick, shrill wheep, wheep, wheo, uttered on the wing as well as 

 on the ground, voices the bird's various emotions. Birds of a 

 migrating flock are said to keep together in lines like a mar- 

 shalled troop, swayed by one mind, just as they appear to be 

 when wheeling over the beach on pleasure bent. 



Like gulls, terns, skimmers, and other beach nesters, the oys- 



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