OYSTER-CATCHER. 357 



black, except a small spot of white under the eyelid, and a crescent 

 of the same across the throat; wing coverts, scapulars, and upper 

 part of the back black; the middle coverts tipped with white; the 

 greater white ; quills black, more or less marked with white within ; 

 lower part of the back, rump, breast, and under parts, white ; tail 

 white half way from the base, the end half black ; legs dirty red, 

 claws black : in some the end half of the bill is black, and in others 

 the white under the eyelid and chin, are both wanting; the chin also 

 is sometimes white, mottled with black ; how far these varieties arise 

 from age or sex, is not clear, but both sexes have been killed, occa- 

 sionally, without any white on the throat. 



This is a common bird in England ; seen in greater numbers on 

 the western shores, feeding on shell fish, and in particular oysters* 

 and limpets ; insinuating their bills into the first gaping oyster they 

 meet with, and scoop out the inhabitant ; the same by the limpets 

 whenever they can slide the end of the bill between the edge of the 

 shell and the rock they adhere to; and these birds will likewise feed 

 on marine insects and worms. In winter the Oyster-catchers are 

 seen in considerable flocks, but they do not depart from us : in 

 summer are only in pairs, though chiefly near the sea, or salt rivers.f 

 The female lays four or five eggs, weighing an ounce and half each, 

 on the bare ground, on the shore, above high water mark ; they are 

 of a greenish grey, blotched with black : the young hatched in about 

 three weeks: when in flocks they are for the most part wild, and 

 suspicious ; yet are easily brought up tame, if taken young. I have 

 known them to be kept in this state for a long time, frequenting 

 ponds and ditches during the day, and attending the Ducks, and 

 other poultry, to shelter at night, and not nnfrequently to come by 

 themselves to the poultry yard as the evening approached : are called 



* The author of American Ornithology doubts the circumstance, as he did not observe 

 these birds to frequent the places where oysters abound : called by some in America, Hagdel. 



f On a particular point of land, on the coast of Lincolnshire, near Skegness, they breed 

 ia such abundance, that a bushel of eggs has been taken in one morning.— Orn. Diet. 



