H^MATOPUS. lgl 



plumage, but head, etc., more grayish, and feathers of upper parts margined 

 terminally with pale buffy or whitish. Length about 9.00, win°- 5.80-6.10 

 culmen .85-1.00, tarsus 1.00-1.10. Eggs 1.62 X 1-12, similar in coloration to 

 those of A. interpres. Sab. Pacific coast of North America, north to Aleu- 

 tian Islands, south to Monterey, California ; accidental in India. 



284. A. melanocephala (Via). Black Turnstone. 



Family HiEMATOPODID^.— The Oyster-catchers. (Page 143.) 



Genera. 



(Characters same as those given for the Family).. Haematopus. (Page 181.) 



Genus H.ffiMATOPUS Linnaeus. (Page 181, pi. LI., fig. 2.) 



(Nest 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 1 . Plumage parti-colored or pied (white beneath). 



b 1 . 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." (Dresser.) Young : Similar, but black 

 portions more brown, the feathers of back and wings with rusty 

 borders, bill more brownish, etc. 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. Sab. 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 1 . 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. ' 



