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THE OYSTEE-CATCHEE. 
Sea-Pie. Oyster Plover. 
H^matopus ostmlegus, Linn. 
Is common around the coast, and permanently resident. 
Its favourite resort is the long range of bright sandy shore, with 
which its lively and handsome appearance harmonises ; but in 
scenes of a very different character it is not less attractive ; its 
pied plumage of pure white and black, with orange-red bill and 
legs,* appear particularly fresh and beautiful, as the sea-pie 
perches on the darkly-grim basaltic rocks which, monster-like, 
raise their heads above the ocean in the vicinity of the Giant^s 
Causeway. Its loud, clear, and shrill whistling note — tee-wheep 
sounds pleasingly on the ear. Such, however, is not always 
the case. Along the coast of Norway, where tliis bird was 
met with, though not in large numbers, by Mr. George Matthews 
and his sporting companions, they were often much annoyed by 
its loud call alarming ducks of various species, in the pursuit of 
which they were engaged. Low rocky coasts, on which limpets, 
Littorinm, and other univalve shell-fish abound, are also much 
resorted to. 
Oyster-catchers are rarely met with singly in Belfast bay, but 
appear in small flocks, often consisting of about fifteen individuals. 
They generally frequent the sandy reaches. Occasionally I have 
observed them busily engaged feeding on the soft oozy banks, 
and sometimes with their legs quite immersed in the water. They 
are extremely wary, and during the day keep farther from the 
shore than any other of the Grallatores ; but in the very early 
morning have been shot from behind ditch-banks, bordering the 
Long Strand, very near the town. When passing an inlet of the 
bay on one occasion, at the early hour of five oYlock in the 
morning, I observed a flock close to the shore, and near the 
* The eye, too, though not visible at such times, is handsome ; the black pupill 
being surrounded by a bright red iris, and the eyelid orange-red. 
