573 



some of them were wholly filled ; one exhibited merely the opercula, about forty in number, of 

 Purpura lapillus, and of all sizes, from the smallest to the full-grown; another (shot on Nov. 13) 

 presented a great deal of vegetable matter, consisting of tender roots and green leaves, also small 

 white worm-like larvae, a few opercula of the whelk, and an operculum of the buckie (Buccinum 

 undatum) ; in the crop and stomach of the last, which was remarkably fat, were found fifty 

 opercula of large whelks, about twenty-five animals of well-sized limpets (Patella vulgaris), in 

 addition to which was a Holothmia (Cucicmaria). In others, not particularly noted down, I have 

 found the flesh of the mussel ; but univalve shell-fish, and more particularly the whelk, are 

 certainly their chief food in Belfast Bay. In no instance have I found any particles of shell, 

 which affords the negative evidence that the animals are all extracted from their habitations by 

 the bird, whose peculiarly formed hill is admirably suited to such a purpose, i. e. for ' picking 

 wilks ! ' On the same bank with the mussels (Mytilus edulis), univalves are also found. Wilson, 

 in his very interesting account of the nearly allied Hasmatopus palliatus (the representative of 

 our species on the shores of the United States), mentions his having remarked numerous borings 

 made by the bill of the bird in the sand. Remembering this, I on one occasion, after observing 

 several Oystercatchers feeding for some time on the sands at Ballyholme Bay, went to the spot 

 to examine if any excavations of the kind were visible ; but none appeared. A few of the fresh 

 double valves of Venus virginea were lying about ; and it was believed that the birds had been 

 preying on the once contained animals, as these had disappeared." 



The nest of the Oystercatcher is usually a mere hollow amongst the gravel or stones just 

 above highwater mark ; or sometimes a few straws or pieces of plants are collected together to 

 form a scanty bed for the eggs, which are generally three, sometimes four, in number, oval in 

 form, somewhat pointed towai'ds the smaller end. In colour they are stone-buff marked with 

 underlying purplish-grey shell-markings and blackish or blackish-brown surface-spots. Some 

 eggs are more marked than others ; and in some the surface-markings are contorted, whereas in 

 others they are mere spots of colour. In size a series of eggs in my collection vary from 2^ by 

 \±% inch to 2±$ by Iff inch. 



The eggs are usually deposited from the middle of April to the last week in May ; and only 

 one brood is reared in the season. 



Mr. Collett cites a rather curious instance of the nesting of this bird in Norway ; for he 

 says that Mr. Schiibeler found a nest in the cavity on the top of a felled pine tree on Inderoen, 

 near the Trondhjems fiord, in June 1872. 



The specimens figured are the adult bird in full summer dress and the young in down above 

 described, the latter being about eight or ten days old. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a,<3,b,2. Aboyne, Scotland, April 27th, 1872 (/. Waters) . c, $ . Bohuslan, Sweden, April 8th, 1875 (Meves). 

 d, 6. Bohuslan, Sweden, April 11th, 1875 (Meves). e, pull. Bohusliin, June 22ud, 1875. f, pull. Skane, 

 Sweden, July (Meves). g, ? . Archangel, June 23rd, 1874 (Piottuch). 



