HyEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS. 
PIED OrSTER-<:ATCH E R, 
Generic Character, 
Bill long, compreffed, channelled. 
Noftrils linear. 
Tongue triangular, one-third the length of the bill. 
Toes three, the outer conne8:ed to the middle one as 
far as the firft joint, by a membrane^ which com- 
pletely edges the toes/ 
HiEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS. Lh. S^Jl. 1. p. 257. 
Sea Pie or Pied Oyster-Catcher. Br. Zool. 2. 
213. tah 74. Laib. Syn. 5. p. 219. iah, 84. 
Mont. Orn. Di^. 
Oyster-Catcher^ Bewick's Br, Birds, Ft. 2. p. 23. 
TThE Oyster-Catcher is in length feventeen inches, 
breadth two feet fix inches, it weighs from fixteen to twenty- 
two ounces ; bill (Iraight, about three inches long, channelled 
the whole length, point obtufe ; thighs bare of feathers to 
midway above the knees ; the toes have a narrow membraneous 
edging, which is finely ferrated, and continues rather more 
than half an inch up the inner fide of the legs. 
The principal food of this bird is oyfters and limpets, which 
it readily detaches from the rocks with its bill ; it will wait 
by the fide of an oyder for a long time, watching its opening, 
and the inflant the Ihells are obferved to feparate, it thrufls in 
its 
