THE PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. 105 
able attention, and found the most perfect specimens as 
follows : — 
Length, six inches and three quarters; extent, thirteen 
inches and a half; bill, black, nostrils, united in a tubular 
projection, the upper mandible grooved from thence, and 
overhanging the lower like that of a bird of prey ; head, 
back, and lower parts, brown sooty black; greater wing- 
coverts, pale brown, minutely tipped with white ; sides of 
the vent, and whole tail-coverts, pure white; wings and 
tail, deep black, the latter nearly even at the tip, or very 
slightly forked; in some specimens, two or three of the 
exterior tail-feathers were white for an inch or so at the 
root ; legs and naked part of the thighs, black ; feet, web- 
bed, with the slight rudiments of a hind toe ; the membrane 
of the food is marked with a spot of straw yellow, and finely 
serrated along the edges; eyes, black, Male and female 
differing nothing in colour. 
THE PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. (Rsemato^us 
ostralegus .) 
This singular species (says Wilson) although nowhere 
numerous, inhabits almost every sea-shore, both on the new 
and old continent, but is never found inland. It is the 
only one of its genus hitherto discovered, and froip the cop- 
