10 THE OBNITHOLOGIST. 



The Oyster-catchers are here resident throughout the year, 

 and breeding operations commence towards the end of April ; 

 by the first week in May laying commences. Though the whole 

 of the district described might be called one large colony of 

 breeding birds, it must not be supposed that nests are to be 

 found close together. Perhaps, on certain favourite shingle- 

 beds two or three pairs may be breeding within a space of one 

 hundred yards square, but, as a rule, the nests are at some 

 distance apart, and in a variety of situations. The site most 

 favoured seems to be a stretch of sand, lying between the 

 normal high-water mark and the first line of vegetation, and 

 well littered with stones of the size of a hen's egg, and upwards. 

 Nests may be found close to the marram grass, but more often 

 a yard or two nearer the sea. Here a hole is scratched of 

 moderate depth, sometimes amongst a cluster of stones, but 

 quite as often in the open. The eggs, as a rule, lie on the bare 

 sand, but sometimes stones are met with when the parent birds 

 are excavating the sand ; in such cases they serve as a lining to 

 the nest. Other situations, which are almost as much favoured, 

 are banks of the roughest shingle, over which walking is most 

 fatiguing. Here any chance hollow is made to do duty for a 

 nest, and the eggs lie on their bare bed of stones. Sometimes 

 a lining of small mussel shells is added, if any happen to 

 be near, but the Oyster-catcher takes but little trouble in carry- 

 ing material to its nest ; often a pair select a more airy site for 

 their home and excavate a nest amongst the tufts of marram 

 grass on the ridges and summits of the highest sand-hills. In 

 such cases the eggs lie on the bare sand. These elevated 

 stations are of great advantage to such a wary bird as the 

 Oyster-catcher, for an intruder can be seen at a great distance, 

 and, on the first alarm, the female quietly leaves her charges, 

 and joins her watchful mate on the tide-line below. It is 

 almost impossible to mark these nests by watching the flight 

 of the female, as she slips away long before it is possible to get 

 anywhere near. 



Sometimes the nest is placed on the flatter portions of the 

 warren, amongst the sparse growth of herbage, and generally 

 where some high tide has left its mark in a line of debris com- 

 prising broken sticks, reeds, corks, and such light objects; 



