THE BIRD BOOK 
OYSTER-CATCHERS. Family H/EMATOPODID^E 
[285.] European Oyster-catcher. Hcematopus frazari. 
This European species is very similar to the American one which follows. It 
casually occurs in Greenland. 
286. Oyster-catcher. 
Haematopus palliatus. 
Range. — Breeds on the coast of the South 
Atlantic States and Lower California and win- 
ters south to Patagonia. Oyster-catchers are 
Buff. 
large, heavy-bodied birds, with stocky red legs 
American Oyster-catcher. an d long, stout red bills. The present species 
has the whole upper parts and entire head and 
neck, blackish; underparts and ends of secondaries, white; length, 19 inches. They 
are abundant breeding birds on the sandy beaches of the South Atlantic States, 
and casually wander north to Nova Scotia. They lay their two or three eggs 
on the ground in slight hollows scooped out of the sand. The eggs are of a 
buffy or brownish buff color, and are irregularly spotted with blackish brown, 
with subdued markings of lavender. Size 2.20 x 1.50. Data. — Sandy Point, S. 
C., May 12, 1902. Three eggs on the sand just above high water mark; nest a 
mere depression on a small “sand dune” lined with pieces of shells. 
A renaria melanocephala. 
Range. — Pacific coast of North America, breed- 
ing from British Columbia northward, and winter- 
ing south to Lower California. 
This species, which has the form and habits of 
the preceding, is blackish above and on the breast; 
the rump and the base of the tail are white, being 
separated from each other by the black tail cov- 
erts. Their nesting habits are in no wise differ- 
ent from those of the common turnstone. The 
eggs are similar, but the markings are not so 
strikingly arranged. Size 1.60 x 1.10. Data. — 
"Kutlik, Alaska, June 21, 1898. Nest simply a de- 
pression in the sand on the sea beach. 
284. Black Turnstone. 
Grayish. 
170 
