O Y S T E R - C A T C H E R O R S E A P I E .
Haematopus ostralegus, Isinn.
OYSTER-CATCHER or SEA-PIE.
HAEM A TOP US OSTRALEGUS, Linn.
Haematopus ostralegus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 257 (1766); Naum.
vii. p. 325; Macg. iv. p. 152; Hewitson, ii. p. 305 ;
Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 294; Dresser, vii. p. 567.
Huitrier pie, French; Austern-Fischer, Austern-Leser,
Meer-Elster, German; Ostrero, Spanish.
This handsome and conspicuous bird is well known
on most parts of our coasts. It is with some reluctance
that I have followed other authors in adopting the name
at the head of this article, for oysters can hardly be said
to require catching, and the bird most assuredly could
not open the shells of a genuine “ native ” or other
oyster, admirably adapted as its beak is for prising
limpets from the rocks and for breaking open the comparatively
weak armour of mussels.
The Sea-pie lays its three or four eggs generally in
slight depressions on sandy or shingly shores close above
high-water mark, but is often also to be found breeding
far from the sea on the stony banks of lakes and rivers.
The parent birds are very clamorous when the eggs are
near hatching or hatched, and will try all the dodges of