502 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFORNIA 



numbers and restricted in distribution, and of little or no value as 

 food, it should certainly be so treated and removed from the game 

 category. This would entail no hardship to the sportsman, for his 

 quests rarely lead him to the remote haunts of these birds, and even 

 if he captures one he will find it very unpalatable food, if the 

 testimony at hand can be relied upon. 



Frazar Oyster-catcher 



Haematopus frazari Brewster 



Other names — American Oyster-catcher; Pied Oyster-catcher; Saematopiis 

 palliatus. 



Description — Adults, both sexes, at all seasons : Whole head, neck and breast, 

 black; bill vermilion; iris orange; back, rump, and outer surface of closed 

 wing, brown; upper tail coverts chiefly white; tail feathers white at bases, 

 brown on middle portions, becoming blackish toward tips, lateral ones lighter; 

 ends of greater coverts and much of secondaries, white, forming a conspicuous 

 band across expanded wing; flight feathers blackish brown; portion of wing 

 lining near edge of wing, mixed white and brown; rest of lining, white in part, 

 in part dusky; axillars solidly white; under surface of flight feathers dusky 

 brown; under surface of body behind breast white, the line of separation not 

 sharp, there being a few feathers of mixed black and white; feet white or 

 whitish. Male: Folded wing 10.10 inches (256 mm.); bill along culmen 2.96 

 (75.0) ; tarsus 2.27 (57.6) (one specimen from Los Coronados Islands, Lower 

 California). Females: Total length 18.00-J.8.50 (457-470); folded wing 9.60- 

 10.24 (244-260) ; bill along culmen 2.83-3.18 (71.8-80.7) ; tarsus 2.21-2.29 (56.1- 

 58.2) (two specimens from California). Juvenile and natal plumages: Not known 

 to us. 



Marks for held identification — Large size (about that of Hudsonian Cur- 

 lew but of stouter build), long, straight and thick reddish bill, dark-colored 

 head and back, conspicuous white markings on wing and "rump", and pure 

 white hinder lower surface. Differs from Black Oyster-catcher in the possession 

 of conspicuous white areas. 



Voice — ^Loud, clear, whistling notes (W. E. Bryant, 1889, p. 276). 



Nest — On rocky islands; probably as with the Black Oyster-catcher a slight 

 depression in the rock surface, lined with a few pebbles. 



Eggs — Not known to us. 



Generai distribution — Eesident on both coasts of Lower California; form- 

 erly ranged north to Ventura County, California; and has been reported once 

 from coast of Sinaloa, Mexico (Cooke, 1910, pp. 99-100). 



Distribution in California — Of former occurrence on the coast and islands 

 south from Santa Barbara Island to the Mexican line. No thoroughly authentic 

 instance since the eighties. 



The Frazar Oyster-catcher is to be considered at best but a rare 

 straggler in California; it is properly a member of the fauna of 

 Lower California. As it ranges (or did so formerly) north to Ven- 

 tura County, and south along the whole western coast of Lower Cali- 



