BIRDS 365 



water. I have seen them in old and young plumage at Raven- 

 glass, where stragglers appear in summer dress, as is occasionally 

 the case on the Solway, but more often at Walney Island. 

 Before Arthur Bolton went abroad he shot several Turnstones 

 in the handsome tortoise-shell dress of the nuptial season on the 

 shores of Walney, whence Williams likewise procured some 

 full-dressed birds. 



OYSTERCATCHEE. 



Hcematopus ostralegus, L. 



There can be no doubt that the Oystercatcher has always 

 frequented the coasts and estuaries of Lakeland in very con- 

 siderable numbers. It was often supplied to the table of Lord 

 William Howard at the price of two pence a bird. For 

 example, in November 1612 we have an entry, 'iiij seapies, viijd.,' 

 about half the market value of those which are netted now-a-days 

 in Morecambe Bay, or shot by the Solway gunners. The birds 

 so destroyed are chiefly immigrants, but many Oystercatchers 

 nest on Walney and the Ravenglass coast. A few stray pairs 

 nest along the beach from Whitehaven to Silloth, and several 

 pairs nest on Rockliffe and Burgh salt marshes, though their 

 nests are often wilfully plundered, or emptied of their contents 

 by high tides. Mr. R. Mann showed me a nestling caught near 

 Allonby this year, but really very few are reared on our coast 

 north of Whitehaven, numerous as the species must be admitted 

 to be every month in the year. The Oystercatcher has once, 

 at least, nested inland near Gilsland, and a pair frequented the 

 Eden near Lang worthy in the summer of 1889; but a gravel 

 bed in the Esk near Longtown is its usual limit of distance from 

 the sea. At Eavenglass and Walney the birds breed freely, 

 nesting on rough saltings, as on the Solway, but especially on 

 shingled beaches and among the sand-hills. The female chooses 

 the nesting site some days before eggs are laid, and often makes 

 several scratchings before she finds one to suit her taste. Laying 

 commences at the beginning of May, and seldom exceeds three 

 eggs. The breeding birds are most vociferous when their young 

 are hiding in the grass or among the sand-bents, and readily 



