106 
THE PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. 
formation of some of its 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 
extremely 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 exa- 
mining 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 muscles, 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 from the shells, whenever it surprises them suffi- 
ciently open. In search of these, it is reported that it often 
frequents the oyster-beds, looking out for the slightest 
opening through which it may attack its unwary prey. For 
this purpose the form of its bill seems V^ry fitly cal- 
