352 OYSTER-CATCHER. 



without the white on the throat. Temminck says that they change 

 their feathers twice in the year, moulting- in the spring and autumn ; 

 hut the colour of the plumage does not seem to change at these times ; 

 the only difference consisting in the absence or presence of the white 

 gorget on the throat. There does not appear to he any difference in 

 the sexes in the young : the plumage is dusky ; the feathers margined 

 with brown ; the eyes of a brownish-black, iris brown : feet of a greyish- 

 black. Dr. Latham observes, it is easily tamed when taken young, and 

 has been known to attend the ducks and other poultry to feed, and 

 shelter at night. 



* On the sandy flat coast of Lincolnshire, we once observed a large 

 flock of Oyster-catchers, and learned that a remarkably high tide had 

 swept away all their eggs, together with those of the dilwall and 

 richel bird, which usually lay their eggs a little above high-water mark. 



On that coast, near Skegness, at a point called Gibraltar, there is an 

 isolated part of a marsh, where Oyster-catchers breed in such abun- 

 dance, that a fisherman informed us he had taken a bushel of eggs in a 

 morning. Instinct has directed these, and other shore birds, to deposit 

 their eggs above the flux of the highest spring tides, and therefore it 

 must have been an unusually high tide to have caused such devastation 

 amongst the eggs. The number of these layed by this bird, is inva- 

 riably four, deposited in a small excavation without any nest, and like 

 others of a similar nature, the bird always disposes them so as to occupy 

 the least possible space, that they may be equally exposed to the incu- 

 bating temperature of her body ; that is, with the smaller ends inwards. 

 The weight of the egg is about an ounce and a half. 



It is said that the Oyster-catcher has no aversion to take the water ; 

 probably like the curlew, it is not distressed on the water, and can 

 occasionally make its escape by swimming if wounded; a circumstance 

 not unusual with the common sandpiper. They assemble in great 

 numbers for their annual migration, but they lead a solitary life during 

 the breeding season. 



" Beautiful and easily domesticated as these birds are," says a writer 

 in Blackwood's Magazine, "it is surprising they are not more frequently 

 introduced in our pleasure grounds ; those who have visited Brighton 

 within these few years, may remember the numbers running about 

 without alarm, on the lawn of the Pavilion, exhibiting their smart, 

 pie-balled glossy coats, in full contrast with their long, bright, orange 

 beaks, and legs, and crimson irides."* 



