CHAP. XVIE.} OYSTER-CATCHERS. 137 
this time of year, as they run along with great swiftness, clap- 
ping their wings together audibly above their heads, and flying 
about round and round any intruder with rapid jerks, or hover- 
ing in the air like a hawk, all the time uttering a loud and 
peculiar whistle. ‘They lead their young to the banks of any 
pool or ditch at hand, and they conceal themselves in the holes 
and corners close to the water’s edge. 
The oyster-catchers sit quietly in pairs the chief at of the 
day on the banks or islands of shingle about the river or on the 
shore, but resort in the evenings to the sands in large flocks. I 
have often been puzzled to understand why, during the whole of 
the breeding-season, the oyster-catchers remain in large flocks 
along the coast, notwithstanding their duties of hatching and 
rearing their young. When all the other birds are paired off, 
they still every now and then collect in the same numbers as they 
do in winter. 
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 
digging 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 tish, leaving the shell. 
It is a curious 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 IT have watched the bird swim gailantly 
and with apparent ease across the bay, or to some bank at a con- 
siderable distance off. ‘The feet of the oyster-catcher seem par 
ticularly 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, how- 
ever, excepting this bird, attempt to dive. 
When in captivity the oyster-catcher eats almost anything 
