THE OYSTER-CATCHER 
Although shy in his wild state, the Oyster- 
Catcher is soon tamed when kept in captivity. A 
number of these birds have been known to live, in 
quite a friendly manner, with poultry in a poultry- 
yard. 
Perhaps the strangest tale that has been told 
about the Oyster-Catcher is this. A kind man, 
while walking on the sea-shore, found one of these 
birds with a broken leg and injured wing. He took 
it home and carefully tended the poor creature. 
In the same house there happened to be a cat 
who had lost her eye, and, in addition to this mis- 
fortune, had just had her kittens taken away and 
drowned. She became quite fond of the Oyster- 
Catcher, and would lick his plumage tenderly, as if 
anxious to make him well. Perhaps her own suffer- 
ings made her gentle with a brother in distress. 
The two lived together happily for some weeks, 
until, at last, when the bird was well, he flew away 
and was never seen again. Possibly his longing for 
the tossing waves and the wild sea-shore was so great 
as to overcome even his friendship with Mrs. Puss. 
54 
