Aves.J 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
421 
angusta ; remiges prmores supra nigrae, subtus fuscae ; 
uropygium album parce nigro variegatum. 
Longitude corporis ab apice rostri ad apicera caudse, 22 ; ala: 
a carpo ad remigem primam, 11 ; rostri, 3 tarsi, 2^; 
caudas, 5. 
Besides the common Oyster- Catcher of Europe, two spe- 
cies have lately been added to the genus, viz., palliatus, 
Temm., a native of Brazil, and If. niger, Cuv., from New 
Holland. The bird above described approaches more closely 
to the European species {H. ostralegus) than to the other 
two ; but may be distinguished from it by the following 
characters, viz. : — 
In its dimensions it exceeds the length of the European 
bird by six inches, and the other parts in proportion ; it wants 
the white collar round the neck, which is a very distinctive 
character of H, ostralegus ; the fascia on the wing is con- 
fined to the extremity of the secondary quill feathers alone, 
whilst in the other bird it extends to some of the wing 
coverts : the primary quill feathers also are entirely black ; 
whereas the other has them partially variegated with white: 
the under wing coverts also differ, the primary ones being 
fuscous, and the outer secondary partially marked with 
black ; whilst the whole of the under wing coverts in 
H. ostralegus are white. The uropygium also, which in 
the European bird is entirely white, is in our specimen par- 
tially variegated with black. The marginal webs of the toes 
are much more dilated. The whitish lunular mark under 
the eye of jff. ostralegus, is entirely wanting in our species, of 
which the margin of the eye seems to be of a reddish tinge, 
of the same colour as the bill. This bird is common upon the 
shores of the continent generally ; it is called by the colonists 
the Red Bill. 
