PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. 



431 



probing it with their long wedge-like bills, in search of small 

 shellfish. This appears evident on examining the hard 

 sands where they usually resort, which are found thickly per- 

 forated with oblong holes, two or three inches in depth. The 

 small crabs called fiddlers, that burrow in the mud, at the 

 bottom of inlets, are frequently the prey of the oyster-catcher ; 

 as are mussels, spout-fish, and a variety of other shellfish and 

 sea-insects with which those shores abound. 



The principal food, however, of this bird, according to 

 European writers, and that from which it derives its name, is 

 the oyster, which it is said to watch for, and snatch suddenly 

 from the shells, whenever it surprises them sufficiently open. 



sandy beaches, feeding on the shellfish during the recess of the tide, 

 and resting while it flows. The oyster-catcher of Europe is to be found 

 on all the sandy British coasts in immense abundance. All those which 

 I have observed breeding have chosen low rocky coasts, and deposit 

 their eggs on some shelf or ledge, merely baring the surface from any 

 moss or other substance covering the rock. When approached, the 

 parents fly round, uttering with great vehemence their clamorous note. 

 I have never found them breeding on a sandy beach, though I have 

 observed these birds for the last ten years, in a situation fitted in every 

 way for that kind of incubation, and have known them retire regularly 

 to a distance of about six or seven miles (a more populous quarter), 

 where they had the advantage of a ledge of insulated rocks bounding 

 the coast. A great many, both old and young birds — perhaps among 

 the latter those of a late brood — are always to be found on these coasts, 

 and enliven the monotony of an extensive sand-beach with their clean 

 and lively appearance and their shrill notes, As the young begin to 

 assemble the flocks increase ; by the month of August they consist of 

 many thousands ; and at full tide they may be seen, like an exten- 

 sive black line, at the distance of miles. They remain at rest until 

 about half tide, when a general motion is made, and the line may be 

 seen broken as the different parties advance close to the water's edge. 

 After this they keep pace with the reflux, until the feeding banks begin 

 to be uncovered, of which they seem to have an instinctive knowledge, 

 when they leave their resting-place in small troops, taking day after day 

 the same course. They are difficult to approach, but when one is shot, 

 the flock will hover over it for some time without heeding the intruder. 

 During flight they assume the j> wedge shape, like ducks. They feed 

 at night when the tide is suitable, and are often very noisy. Mussels 

 and smaller shellfish, crabs, &c, &c, are their most common food. — Ed. 



