about 2*2 by P5 in. The female sits about three weeks,
during which the male keeps watch, and becomes clamorous
on the approach of an enemy; his mate' attends to the
signal, leaves her nest in silence, and after acircuitous
flight, joins him in his endeavours to scold o r decoy away the
intruder. On the rocky coasts where suitable localities are
scarce, each pair possesses a certain district^but-'on^sandy
flat shores, such as those of Lincolnshire and Lancashire,
Considerable numbers maybe found associated; and on*some
of the Shetland islands, when the' young are just hatched,
the chatter of the thirty or forty pairs of birds is perfectly
deafening.
In autumn the' birds which have bred in the north ipass
southwards, and a certain influx of visitors§from1 the'Continent
takes place, so that large flocks’,^generally very'wary,
may be seen from that time onwards along.‘the coasts. 'As
an article of food the Oyster-catcher can hardly be eulogized,
and although we find in the Northumberland Household
Book—“ Item, S.ee-Pyes for my Lorde at Prihcypall Feestes
and non other- tyme,”_yet the Is ’Estranges of Hunstanton
had either better taste, Or a. greater choice, of food, for -the
Sea-Pie is" only mentioned once in their Accounts, and then
at a low price.
The Oyster-catcher is a rare stragglerto:"Greenland,
but in Iceland it |i®jp not uncommon' in * summery and |s
believed to remain throughout' th e 1 year in - -the, ■ southern
districts. It occurs in summer on all'the'Coasts-of-Europe
from the-North Cape-- tcJCthe White S'ea, and,-southward,
to the- Mediterranean :' beingferefedllit,has a rule,'from
the Baltic to the delta of the? Bhone? and th e l shores
Of the Adriatic. ' Along ' the-‘Spanish Peninsula and?!the
islands and shores of "the'-- greater?part -of--the * Mediterranean
it-is prmcipallylmown as a migrant, ahdlftasf only
on comparatively rare''occasions’that it ds-found traversing
the inland portions of the' Cofitinentyiex©e|^tlwhere, af#.in
Bussia, it follows the-course of large':rivers'. *?IIt ’retreats; in
winter from the northern’1 shores’ of the -Black'Sea^an-d#he
Caspian’, on which it breeds in summer,' as' also,' to aJimited
extent, on the salt lakes of the Aral1;' and thence’ it Seems
to stretch north-eastward across Siberia, where• Dr. Finsch
found Ib a t Obdorsk, close-to the Arctic-Circle. BeyondTthis
there is a - break f in 'its distribution',1 and Ih e bird found-hy
Shrenck omth® Ussuri, a tributary of the' Arnoor,- and also
on-the latter river, and atNarim, in’Eastern Siberia; belongs,
according to Taezanowskij to- - the- Somewhat larger; longer-
billed - form, with less white' on- -the? primaries, found in
China; to which Swinhoe gave?the - name of H.
This form is- probably the -one-obtained hy' Middendorf in
the"Sea o f ’Okotsk; and by.’Pallas in Kamtschatka and on
the Khrle-Islands, and. which is supposed;'5thodeur in Japan,
as if- certainly does in* China dbWnHo’ Swato-W;breeding-ih
TaJien Bay. - Inf^Sew? Zealand and Australia, reaching up
tfl^Arracan, China,‘ and Japan, is-'||fund 'bp%)€ros-iris,
which has a v'ery long -Milynnd no white- oU* the-prinoafie'#
In India our Oyster-cht<hUf d e s p o t seelh1 ’-to- ha-ye occurred?
bJKthe east^of^Burma, and both- on the' mainland iMn#
ih^Ceylon. ityis mainly a winter visitant; on thek^fef&sfciiof
Baluchistan and in the Persian^ Uptf' it I s not Uncommon;
and Severtzoff states' that it- narrates through the
Pamir range.“ It Is'found 'during the cool season along
thppoast of iio rib Afjjca from Morocco to Egypt, and can
be’Jtraced down' fbe Tied Sea, where Vm Heuglin thinks jt
islbsident, to Mozambique on t^e-past side; whilst on the
weff ۩as,t of Africa it is recorded from, Senegambia.
The beak is three inches- dongybf a “deep orange at the
base, ‘l|ghter in colour towards the tip, greatly compressed,
anftpnding in a thin vertical edge'; the iridds 'iriinsdn ; -the
eyelid reddfsh-oi'ange, with a white spotJheiQwfjje. ey.e; the
whole ofStke head,-the neck'-all round, the5upper part of the
breast, scapulars, intefseapulars, smaller winghoverts, quill-
feapfbrs, and the distal half of the tail-featllers, black;
the' back,-great wing-cover,ts, part of the 'inner web of the
primaries, upper tail-coverts/ the basal half'4 o f the tail-
feathers,cthe lower part of It he breast, all the under - surface
of She body, under surface of the wings, and the axillary
plume,- pure white the greater, coverts forming a white” bar
*#Tol. hi. Q Q