112 
PILECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL.E. 
Mr. Selby speaks of this species as a very handsome bird when seen on the wing, 
the marked contrast of its pure black and white coloration producing a very striking 
effect. 
The Oyster Catcher can run with great rapidity, and is able both to swim and to 
dive with ease ; and may frequently be seen swimming short distances in search of 
food. But it seldom or never dives, except when driven to do so by danger, and in 
order to effect its escape from an enemy. 
Although the Oyster Catcher is essentially a shore bird, Yarrell cites quite a 
number of instances in which it has been found far inland. In one case it was taken 
at Oatlands, on the Thames, fifty miles from its mouth. Another writer, in the Maga- 
zine of Natural History (VI. p. 151), states that in the summer it may always be found 
along the Don, thirty miles or more from the sea, and that it breeds as high up as 
Kildrummy. Yarrell states that young birds of this species are readily and fre- 
quently tamed, and can easily be made to associate with domestic poultry ; he also 
mentions that a dock of these birds used, some years ago, to run about inside the 
railing on the grass in front of the Pavilion at Brighton. 
In the wild state the birds of this species unite in small docks towards winter, and 
are then very shy and difficult of approach. In spring they again separate into pairs, 
many of these associating and breeding together at particular favorite localities. 
Montagu mentions that they appeared to be more abundant on some parts of the 
sandy dat coasts of Lincolnshire than in any other region with which he was ac- 
quainted. At a point on that coast called Gibraltar there is an isolated marsh where 
Oyster Catchers were then known to breed, in such great abundance that a dsher- 
man informed Mr. Montagu that he had collected a bushel of their eggs in a single 
morning. 
The Oyster Catcher makes no nest, but deposits its eggs — usually four in number 
— on the bare ground, on a shingly beach above high-water mark. They are 2.17 
inches in length by 1.50 inches in breadth, and have a yellowish stone ground color, 
and are spotted and blotched with ashy gray and dark brown. 
The female is said to sit upon her eggs about three weeks. During all this time 
the male keeps a sharp watch, and on the approach of an enemy becomes very 
clamorous. His mate, warned by this signal of danger, leaves her nest in silence, 
and after a circuitous dight, joins him in his endeavors to mislead and to decoy away 
the intruder. The young, when drst hatched, are covered with a grayisli-brown 
down. 
Hcematopus palliatus, Temm. Man. II. 1820, 532. — Ann. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 181 ; Y. 580, pi. 
223 ; Synop. 1839, 228 ; Birds Am. V. 1842, 236, pi. 324. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1853, 699 ; 
Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 512. — Coues, Key, 1872, 246 ; Check List, 1873, no. 404 ; 2d ed. 
1882, no. 596. — Ridgw. Nom. X. Am. B. 1881, no. 507. 
“ Hcematopus ostralrgus,” Wils. Am. Orn. VIII. 1814, 15 pi. lxiv. (nee Linn.). 
Hcematopus arcticus, Jard. ed. Wilson, III. 1832, 35. 
? Hcematopus “ brasiliensis, Licht.” (Gray, Handl. III. p. 21). 
IIab. Sea-coasts of temperate and tropical America, from Nova Scotia and Lower California 
to Patagonia ; Bahamas ; Cuba ; Tres Marias ; Galapagos. Apparently wanting on the Pacific 
coast of the United States north of Santa Barbara. 
Sp. Char. Adult: Head and neck uniform black, with a plumbeous cast in certain lights ; back, 
wings, and tail slate-brown. Rest of the plumage, including the greater wing-coverts, tertials, and 
AMERICAN OYSTER CATCHER. 
