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and is only a winter visitant." It is, he adds, very shy and difficult to procure ; but he found it 

 far from rare near Tellicherry, where he lived some time. Southward it is found in Ceylon, 

 where Layard saw one or two near Jafiha. 



In Siberia it does not appear to range as far north as in Europe. Von Middendorff saw it 

 on the 7th August (O. S.) on the great Schantar Island; and Von Schrenck received an old 

 female, shot by Mr. Maack, on the 8th July, near the mouth of the Ussuri ; and he himself killed 

 a young bird near the village of Kalta, close above where the Amoor cuts through the Bureja 

 Mountains, fully eighty-five geographical miles from the nearest, sea-coast. Pallas records it 

 from the Kurile Islands ; and Mr. Swinhoe, who met with it in China, says that he has reason 

 to believe that it breeds in Talien Bay, in North China, as he so frequently saw it there in the 

 month of June. It is believed to inhabit Japan, as it is seen in native drawings. 



The Indian and Chinese bird, which is specifically identical with ours, has, as a rule, a 

 longer bill ; but the variation in the length of the bill of specimens from the same locality is 

 frequently considerable, and clearly shows that it is no characteristic difference. There is, how- 

 ever, another somewhat closely allied, but quite distinct, species found in Australia and New 

 Zealand (Hwmatopus longirostris, Gm.), which differs chiefly in having the under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries black and white, and the black on the throat extending far onto the breast. 



The Oystercatcher is chiefly found on the sea-coast, though not unfrequently a few indi- 

 viduals are seen far inland, especially during the summer season. As a rule, it frequents the 

 low rocky shores or the mouths of rivers, where it has a good chance of foraging for food; and 

 on large tracts of sandy shore it seems to remain rather for security than in order to search for 

 food. I have frequently seen it on the low shores of the Baltic, especially the stony portions 

 of the Gulf of Bothnia, where numbers breed, and where, when collecting, I found it an intoler- 

 able nuisance ; for, owing to its wary and shy habits, it frequently used to give the alarm to birds 

 I was stalking. It is almost impossible to walk up to within gunshot-range of it ; for however 

 unconcerned it may appear, directly one gets too near, it starts off, flying round well out of range, 

 and uttering its loud alarm-note. I have generally seen it singly or in small parties ; but it is 

 said to collect not unfrequently in considerable flocks. It usually frequents the edge of the 

 water, into which it often wades ; and in places where i tis necessary to do so in order to obtain 

 food, it does not hesitate to swim, which it does with ease. It feeds on marine animals of 

 various sorts, small shellfish, Patellae, young crabs, &c. ; and it is stated to be very fond of the 

 shore-worm (Arenicola lumbricoides), and eats ordinary worms, snails, and slugs. So far as I can 

 ascertain, it seldom eats oysters or large bivalves; its common name is therefore somewhat 

 inappropriate. Macgillivray says that limpets and Balani form its chief food, and that the 

 bivalves found in its gizzard or oesophagus are generally, when of small size, either entire or 

 merely crushed, but when large are deprived, in a greater or less degree, of their testaceous 

 envelopes. Along with their food they swallow particles of gravel, frequently of considerable 

 size. It runs with great celerity on the hard sand, and walks with ease in the soft muddy places. 

 Its flight is swift and powerful, the wings being extended far and flapped quickly, not unfre- 

 quently with a tremulous motion, and, as it settles down, held stiff like those of a Duck. 

 Usually it does not fly at a great height, and not unfrequently flies in large circles. Its call- 

 note is a clear loud whistle, resembling the syllables kiveej) Jcweep, and is uttered both when the 



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