148 CHAHADRIID.E. 



difficulty in supplying this bird with food, as it consumes 

 bread, meat, and cooked vegetables, or rice, besides which 

 worms and snails Avhenever they come in its way. 



The nest of the Oyster Catcher is most generally placed 

 on short grassy meadows or banks, just above high water 

 mark, and consists in a rounded hollow, scratched by the 

 bird in the ground and furnished with a few blades of grass 

 as a lining ; in it the female deposits two or three eggs ; 

 on which she only sits during the night ; after three weeks 

 the young come forth, and run about with their parents as 

 soon as they are dry. It is not difficult to catch the young 

 shortly after they are hatched, but they acquire very early 

 the knowledge of running to the water, to swim, dive, and 

 even to run a short distance under water for safety, so as 

 to get out of reach, not only of men but of a dog. 



In consequence of the anxiety the bird shews for her 

 eggs she generally approaches a sportsman within gun-shot 

 during the breeding season and becomes an easy prey ; the 

 young birds leave their birth-place in small companies as 

 soon as they have finished their moult, and in August 

 their parents follow them in like manner to milder regions 

 for the winter. 



The Oyster Catcher measures about sixteen inches and 

 three-quarters to seventeen inches in length, the wing 

 from the carpus to the tip ten inches and three-quarters, 

 the beak two inches nine lines ; tarsus one inch eleven 

 lines. 



The colours of its plumage are, of the head, neck and 

 upper part of the breast deep black ; the back, wings, and 

 tertials the same, with a reflection of bluish-ash colour ; the 

 quills are dusky, as also the tail-feathers from half way down 

 to their tips, the basal half is white, the under parts are all 

 pure white, as well as the rump and upper tail-coverts ; 



