572 



6 



bird is sitting and on the wing ; and when alarmed this note is uttered frequently in succession, 

 loudly and quickly, and is sometimes considerably modulated. 



Mr. Eobert Gray, writing on the habits of the Oystercatcher in Scotland, says (B. of W. of 

 Scotl. p. 268): — "The Oystercatcher pairs early in the season, and in some parts of Scotland is 

 known to travel long distances inland. When travelling from Perth to Inverness in April 1870, 

 I observed several pairs on the banks of the Tay evidently mated. Near Dalguise I saw others 

 frequenting a ploughed field at some distance from the river ; and at Ballinluig two or three 

 pairs were observed near a farm-steading feeding not more than twenty yards from the pigeons 

 and poultry. On reaching Pitlochry I found five or six pairs, all apparently mated ; and, finally, 

 as we passed Blair Athole and proceeded northward towards Struan, I counted about a dozen 

 more, showing that these birds follow the windings of such a river as the Tay, and take up their 

 summer quarters on its banks at the commencement of the breeding-season. About a week 

 afterwards, while travelling along the side of the Spey from Rothes to Abernethy, I took notice 

 of the fact that pairs of this bird were located in the same way on the banks of the river from 

 the Moray Firth to the confines of Inverness-shire, where they would almost meet those coming 

 from the Firth of Tay. In like manner these birds ascend the Findhorn as far as its source in 

 the Monahliadh Mountains, and also penetrate to Lochness and Loch Oich, where they are met 

 by others which have entered by the south at Loch Linnhe. The same remark applies to the 

 whole of the western coasts, where the many streams and sea-lochs that characterize that side of 

 Scotland attract the Oystercatcher and other birds of like habits, and lead them gradually inland, 

 so that during the breeding-season they turn up before the tourist almost everywhere. I recollect 

 seeing about thirty in a flock pitch upon a shelving rock, from which the waves had just receded, 

 and commence an attack upon the limpets, which were very numerous. Being within three or 

 four yards of them, I could distinctly perceive their movements, and could not help being struck 

 with their dexterity in overturning the shells and scooping out their contents. Sometimes a bird 

 would run forward to a limpet and bend down its head sideways, as if in a listening attitude ■ 

 then it passed to another and another, repeating the scrutiny, apparently to see if the shell was 

 at all raised from the rock, until it found one ready for treatment, which it immediately put in 

 force by thrusting its thin pointed bill suddenly between the edge of the limpet and its point of 

 attachment, and turning it neatly over. One foot was then placed on the object and the animal 

 taken out as cleanly as if done with a knife or other sharp instrument. Another favourite 

 feeding-ground is some sheltered bay, where a pair or two will often station themselves for a few 

 hours, boring the wet sand for annelids, which I have seen them pull out of their burrows, and 

 carry to the water for a slight rinsing before being swallowed." 



Thompson, referring to the food of the Oystercatcher, as observed by him in Ireland, says, 

 " a very favourite haunt in the bay is a very extensive mussel-bank, near Garmoyle, from being 

 commonly seen feeding on which these birds have received the name of Mussel-peckers, which, 

 here at least, is much more appropriate than Oystercatcher, as the Ostrea inhabits too deep 

 water to be ever accessible to them. The contents of the stomachs or gizzards (which latter are 

 as fnlly developed as in the graminivorous birds) of eight Sea-pies, shot in various parts of the 

 bay in spring, autumn, and winter, proved, on examination, to be as follows : five contained 

 only the opercula and portions of the animal of the whelk (Littorina communis), with which 



