321 
OYSTER CATCHERS. 
The interesting birds which, constitute the next 
limited genus, are nearly completely maritime in 
their habits, and exhibit an alliance, in various re- 
spects, to the family in which, by the almost com- 
mon consent of modem ornithologists, they have 
been placed. They are gregarious except during 
the breeding season, and, even then, incubation is 
frequently conducted in companies. They breed 
chiefly upon the ground, making little or no nest, 
and lay four eggs. They are subject to a double 
moult, analogous to that of the Charadriadce ; and 
their manner, when an intruder approaches the nest, 
is also similar. "VVe have representatives of the form 
in every quarter of the world. 
ILematomjs. — Generic characters. — Bill long, 
straight, or slightly bending upwards, com- 
pressed, point abruptly truncated ; mandible 
with a large short nasal groove in the mem- 
brane, of w'hieh the nostrils are pierced ; nos- 
trils linear; wings ample, first quill longest; 
legs comparatively short ; tibiae for a short 
space naked ; toes three, anterior, short, united 
by a membrane which borders them. 
Types, H. oslralegus, palliatus, niger, &c. Cos- 
mopolite. 
Note . — Habits maritime ; gregarious except during 
incubation ; breed on the ground. 
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