36 
PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. 
parts, one might almost be led by fancy to suppose, that it had 
borrowed the eye of the pheasant, the legs and feet of the 
bustard, and the bill of the woodpecker. 
The oyster-catcher frequents the sandy sea-beach of New 
Jersey, and other parts of our Atlantic coast in summer, in 
small parties of two or three pairs together. They are ex- 
tremely shy, and, except about the season of breeding, will 
seldom permit a person to approach within gunshot. They 
walk along the shore in a watchful, stately manner, at times 
probing it with their long wedge-like bills, in search of small 
shell-fish. This appears evident, on examining the hard sands 
where they usually resort, which are found thickly perforated 
with oblong holes, two or three inches in depth. The small 
crabs called fiddlers, that burrow in the mud at the bottom of 
inlets, are frequently the prey of the oyster-catcher ; as are 
mussels, spout-fish, and a variety of other shell-fish and sea 
insects with which those shores abound. 
The principal food, however, of this bird, according to 
European writers, and that from which it derives its name, is 
the oyster, which it is said to watch for, and snatch suddenly 
rous note. I have never found tliem breeding on a sandy beach, though I have 
observed these birds for the last ten years, in a situation fitted in every way for 
that kind of incubation, and have known them retire regularly to a distance 
of about six or seven miles (a more populous quarter), where they had the ad- 
vantage of a ledge of insulated rocks bounding the coast. A great many, both 
old and young birds, perhaps among the latter those of a late brood, are always to 
be found on these coasts, and enliven the monotony of an extensive sand beach, 
with their clean and lively appearance, and their shrill notes. As the young be- 
gin to assemble, the flocks increase ; by the month of August, they consist of 
many thousands ; and at full tide, they may be seen like an extensive black line, at 
the distance of miles. They remain at rest until about half tide, when a general 
motion is made, and the line may be seen broken, as the different parties advance 
close to the water edge. After this they keep pace with the reflux, until the 
feeding banks begin to be uncovered, of which they seem to have an instinctive 
knowledge, when they leave their resting-place in small troops, taking day after 
day the same course. They ai’e difficult to approach, but w'hen one is shot, the 
flock will hover over it for some time, without heeding the intruder. During 
flight they assume the ^ wedge shape, like ducks. They feed at night, when the 
tide is suitable, and are often very noisy. Mussels, and smaller shell-fish, crabs, 
&c. &c. are their most common food En. 
