176 
PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. 
verts, and that portion of the tail which they cover, are pure 
white; the wings, when shut, cover the whole white plumage 
of the back and rump; legs and naked part of the thighs pale 
red; feet three toed, the outer joined to the middle by a broad 
and strong membrane, and each bordered with a rough warty 
edge; the soles of the feet are defended from the hard sand and 
shells by a remarkably thick and callous warty skin. 
On opening these birds the smallest of the three was found 
to be a male; the gullet widened into a kind of crop; the sto- 
mach, or gizzard, contained fragments of shell-fish, pieces of 
crabs, and of the great king-crab, with some dark brown marine 
insects. The flesh was remarkably firm and muscular, the skull 
thick and strong, intended no doubt, as in the Woodpecker 
tribe, for the security of the brain from the violent concussions 
it might receive while the bird was engaged in digging. The 
female and young birds have the back and scapulars of a sooty 
brownish olive. 
This species is found as far south as Cayenne and Surinam. 
Dampier met with it on the coast of New Holland; the British 
circumnavigators also saw it on Van Diemen’s Land, Terra del 
Fuego, and New Zealand. 
