Part 2 — Family HAEMATOPODIDAE Oyster catchers

Family HAEMATOPODIDAE Oyster catchers

HAEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS Linnaeus

EUROPEAN OYSTER CATCHER

Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain

HABITS

This is another species whose claim to a place in the American list rests on its occurrence in Greenland, but, rather curiously, all the occurrences are recorded from the west coast and not from the east side, as might have been expected. Herbert Winge, in 1898, was able to record six specimens obtained at various localities between 1844 and 1898, as well as one reported in the autumn of 1893. As it is a breeding species in Iceland, its occurrence in Greenland from time to time may well be expected.

Courtship.—As the oyster catcher is an extremely striking bird, with its strongly contrasted plumage of black and white, red bill, and flesh-colored feet, and is also by no means scarce and very noisy, its breeding habits challenge attention, and a good deal has been recorded on the subject by Edmund Selous, Seton Gordon, William Farren, and others. It is on the whole a sociable species, and one peculiar characteristic is that in the middle of the breeding season it is not unusual to find three birds together, either resting or in flight, without any open signs of hostility. According to Selous, these associations are often composed of two males and one female, and as he observed them together not only in the early part of the pairing time but also late in the season, it would seem that, except perhaps just in the height of sexual activity, the social instinct is predominant. The following account is taken from William Farren’s (1910) description of the “Piping parties”:

The piping of the males depends on the presence of the female. Another male in the neighborhood hears the note, becomes interested, pipes a little, and then flies direct to where the performance is taking place. He places himself by the side of the other male and the two pipe together to the female. Generally unresponsive, the female may walk away, when she is followed by the two males, who continue their serenade. In one instance observed by Mr. Selous, the female flew down to a lower shelf of rock and the two males piped down to her from above; and when at last she flew away they, with a few single querulous notes, assumed their ordinary attitude and walked disconsolately about. The flight of the female always ended the performance.

Mr. Selous (1901), in describing the piping serenade of the male, states that when he begins he faces her, but “having once begun he seems more enthralled by his own music than by her and will turn from side to side or even right round and away from her, as though in the rhythmical sway of his piping.” This remarkable song is audible a long way off and is described well by Selous as “an earpiercing clamor.” He writes it as “kee kee kee kee kervee kervee kervee kervee kervee” becoming fainter in its later stages and ending in a long-drawn out quavering trill. In some cases, according to Selous, the female also pipes, and one pair, presumably already mated, will chase another pair, all four piping together. He also instances a case in which an unattached male approached close to where a hen was sitting; she left the nest, and, joining her mate, the two advanced on the intruder, piping a warning, and put him to flight.

Perhaps the fullest study of the subject is contained in a paper by J. S. Huxley and F. A. Montague (1925). Here the piping is described thus:

Any number of birds, from one to seven or eight or possibly more, may take part in it. Typically, what occurs is as follows: One or more birds begin the loud characteristic piping which typically again is given in a special attitude, the head and bill directed straight downward, the bill held open and very slightly vibrated, the neck thrust forward so that the shoulders show up with rather a horsey look. Sometimes, but not always, the whole body is bobbed up and down at intervals in the way common to so many wading birds, but not very markedly. Frequently, but again not always, the performers trot rapidly round when piping, very often close side by side and usually in a serpentine course, with short quick steps. Sometimes one of the performers will suddenly turn right round through 180° in the middle of its performance; one I saw turn through the complete 360° in two spasms.

Huxley and Montague have shown that this piping performance has not only a sexual significance, but that it also plays a number of other rôles in the bird’s life, as, for instance, in unilateral courtship, mutual courtship, aggression, sexual jealousy, territorial jealousy, and probably social excitement—that is, under all forms of strong emotion except fear. Details are given of observed piping by large parties, two pairs, threes (the commonest form), “twos” and “ones.”

Another courtship activity recorded in the same paper is the slow-butterflylike flight with the wing beats at about half the ordinary pace carried out by a solitary bird. Coition is apparently preceded by no preliminary ceremony whatever, the initiative coming from the male, the female standing quite still and giving no visible indication of readiness to pair. For a fuller discussion on the origin and meaning of the piping ceremony the reader is referred to the paper by Huxley and Montague (1925).

Nesting.—There is considerable variation in the nesting sites of this species. Among sand dunes it is often to be met with on the summit of a dune, a mere hollow in the sand. On shingle banks it may be among pebbles, sometimes lined with small white stones or shells, obviously brought by the bird. Other nests are placed in natural recesses of rock, on grass land, when at times quite a good-sized nest is built of any wrack or rubbish available. While in many cases the nest is placed close to the shore it is frequently found in Scotland by the sides of the rivers far inland, and on the continent, in level grassy meadows in the reclaimed marshes of Holland. Exceptionally nests have been recorded from a larch wood on an island, among bracken, etc.

Eggs.—The normal number of eggs is three, but two are also commonly found, and in some districts sets of four are not at all uncommon. Exceptionally five and six eggs have been found together. As is usually the case where three eggs are normal, they are oval rather than pyriform in shape and in color are yellowish stone or ochreous, boldly marked with spots, streaks, and scrawls of blackish brown and some ashy shell marks. There are also variations with warm rufous tinge in the ground color, or very rarely with a pale bluish ground or even pure white. Some sets are boldly blotched with sepia black. The measurements of 100 British eggs, made by the writer, average 57 by 40.07 millimeters; the eggs showing the for extremes measure 70.1 by 37.4, 62.1 by 48.9, 51.6 by 40.4, and 62.6 by 35 millimeters.

Young.—Incubation is carried on by both sexes, but probably the female takes the greater share, and she has been observed to sit for three or four hours without changing. The period is estimated at 21 days (Paynter), 23 to 24 days from finding full set (W. Evans), and 24 days (Faber). Probably the latter estimates are more correct. The young when hatched remain a day or two in the nest and are attended by their parents for at least five weeks after hatching, according to J. M. Dewar (1908). R. H. Brown, however, estimates it as about 29 days.

Plumages.—The plumages and molts are fully described in A Practical Handbook of British Birds edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).

Food.—Chiefly marine mollusca; univalves, such as limpets (Patella), small whelks (Buccinium) and periwinkles (Litorina) and bivalves, including mussels (Mytilus edulis), cockles (Cardium), etc. Also annelida, earthworms, and sandworms; crustacea (shrimp, etc.), and insects, including Coleoptera, Diptera and their larvae (especially Tipulidae), Lepidoptera (larvae and pupae of Noctuidae); occasionally Holothurians and some vegetable matter (grass seeds, grains, etc.).

Behavior.—The feeding habits of the oyster catcher have been exhaustively studied by J. M. Dewar, who has given the results of his investigations in a paper in the Zoologist for 1908. Careful examination of the shells of mussels showed that about 78 per cent were opened by means of a stab from the bill through the dorsal border. As in their normal position this is the exposed portion this is perhaps natural, but only those which have the valves slightly opened are vulnerable and the weakest point in the shell is on the ventral border, which is rarely exposed. The best feeding time is when the scalps are first exposed by the ebb, before the mussels have closed their shells and again when the tide is rising and the shells are just beginning to open again. When the tide is up the birds rest in long lines, head to wind. The flight of the oyster catcher is peculiar and characteristic, the wings being rapidly moved within a very short arc, so that they seem to be vibrated at the tips.

Enemies.—The oyster catcher has few natural enemies, though no doubt occasionally a nest is destroyed by Corvidae (hooded crows and carrion crows or rooks).

Fall.—The Misses Rintoul and Baxter have observed a tendency to the renewal of spring display during the autumn months. The Shetland birds move southward in September and do not return until March.

Winter.—During the winter months the oyster catcher is generally to be met with in flocks, easily recognized by their striking coloration and characteristic notes. The wild ringing sound of their calls, a clear kle-eep, coming from hundreds of throats at once, is, as T. A. Coward remarks, as delightful as it is harmonious.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—Iceland, the Faroes, the British Isles, and the coasts of northern Europe from northwest Spain and Brittany to the Baltic, and along the Scandinavian coast to Archangel, probably also in the Black and Caspian Seas, south to Macedonia and Asia Minor. Replaced by allied forms in Asia and Japan.

Winter range.—Some winter in Iceland, many in the British Isles, but the main winter quarters lie in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the African coast south to Mozambique, and India.

Spring migration.—At the Straits of Gibraltar the passage northward takes place in April and May, according to Farrer, and in Malta in April, but in the eastern Mediterranean it is apparently rather earlier, for in Greece one has been noted at the end of March, and Lindermeyer gives mid-April as the main passage date. At Corfu it has been seen on March 20. Danish birds arrive on their breeding grounds late in March or early in April, and in southern Sweden in March while in Finland not till late April.

Fall migration.—Gaetke noted many young birds on Heligoland in August and migrants have been recorded for Greece in mid-August. The autumn movement is more prolonged than the spring passage, owing to the presence of young as well as adults, so that at Malta birds have been recorded from August to November. The main passage at Tangier takes place in October.

Casual records.—Winge’s Greenland records include two dated April 19, 1885, near Nanortalik, and one on June 16, 1888, north of Jakobshavn. It has also been noted on Jan Mayen (A. G. Nathorst and L. C. Masters); once north of Bear Island, July 28, 1910; and once in Spitsbergen, July, 1906 (Mathey-Dupraz).

Egg dates.—From the British Islands, April 26 to June 26 (25 dates), May 2 to 29 (14 dates), June 4 to 26 (10 dates); Holland, May 11 to 25 (25 dates); Norway, June 10 to 27 (8 dates); Faroes, May 15 to 22 (3 dates).

HAEMATOPUS PALLIATUS PALLIATUS Temminck

AMERICAN OYSTER CATCHER

HABITS

The usual impression that one gets of this large and showy wader is a fleeting glimpse of a big, black and white bird disappearing in the distance over the hot, shimmering sands of our southern beaches. It is one of the shyest and wildest of our shore birds, ever on the alert to escape from danger; I have never shot one and seldom have had half a chance to do so. Even during the breeding season when its anxiety for its eggs or young prompts it to be less wary, it flies around the intruder in wide circles, well beyond gun range, yelling its loud notes of protest. It was evidently about as shy even in the days of Audubon and Wilson, for both mentioned its wariness. It was much commoner in those days, of course, and enjoyed a much wider distribution. Audubon (1840) records it at Portland, Me., and as breeding on the south coast of the Labrador Peninsula; it seems as if he must be mistaken about the latter locality, although it is interesting to note that the European oyster catcher breeds as far north as Russian Lapland.

The oyster catcher prefers the same broad, sandy beaches as the Wilson plover and the least tern select for their breeding grounds; and at other seasons it frequents similar resorts with all the little sand plovers and beach birds. The small plovers are protectively colored, but the oyster catcher is not only big, but is most conspicuously colored. Perhaps it needs no protection against the ordinary foes of the little fellows; and evidently its wits are sufficient protection against larger enemies. But in spite of the fact that it is well able to take care of itself, its range has been greatly restricted and its numbers very much reduced during the past 50 years. It formerly bred abundantly on Cobb Island, Virginia, but when we were there in 1907 we saw very few and found no nests or young.

H. H. Bailey (1913) says:

This large, showy bird fell an easy mark to the spring gunners, breeding as it did during the height of the spring migration of “beach birds,” from May 10 to 25. Nesting among the sand dunes or flat beaches back from the ocean, over which the spring gunners tramped daily, these birds were right in the line of travel, so to speak, and were either killed or their nests broken up.

Recent records from South Carolina, where we found it common in 1915, seem to indicate that it is becoming rarer even there. And during the whole winter of 1924 and 1925, spent on the west coast of Florida, I saw only one.

Nesting.—While visiting Arthur T. Wayne on the coast of South Carolina, we found three nests of three eggs each of the oyster catcher on May 22 and 23, 1915. The first two nests were on the broad, sandy beaches of Bull’s Island among numerous scattered bits of shells and pebbles. The other was on Vessel Reef in Bull’s Bay, a low, flat, sand reef, with small areas of marsh grass in which willets were nesting. The oyster catchers’ nests were all on the higher parts of the dry, flat, sand beaches, well above high-water mark; they were mere hollows in the sand, entirely without lining, on little mounds of sand or elevations, where the birds could have a good outlook; usually a regular pathway of footprints in the sand led up to the nest. The birds were never seen on or near the nests, but were flying about in the distance making a great outcry. The nests were easily found by following the tracks and looking for the little elevations. Several pairs of Wilson plover were nesting near them.

W. J. Erichsen (1921) “found a single egg deposited in a depression on top of a wall of oyster shells on Raccoon Key,” but an unusually high tide washed the egg away. He also found a set of three eggs “in a slight depression on top of a bank of oyster shells which had been thrown up by the surf”; and he says that “where nesting sites of this character can be found, this species always selects them.”

Oyster catchers’ nests are usually not near together, but M. H. Burroughs has sent me some notes on some nests he found in Glynn County, Ga., that are an exception to the rule. A set of four eggs, two fresh and two partially incubated, was “on a slight mound, the nest having a few broken bits of shells in it and nearly entirely surrounded with a rim of broken bits of shells, evidently raked up by the birds.” Six feet away, under a log “which had both ends resting on mounds of sand,” was a set of two. There were two other nests, each about 150 feet away in different directions.

George B. Sennett (1879) found a nest on Padre Island, Tex., which was quite different; he describes it as follows:

The nest was situated on dry mud a rod or so from the water, and was simply a slight depression, of the size of a small tea plate, lined with shells and pieces of shells; none of them were larger than an inch in diameter, and most much smaller. They were chiefly small oyster shells, and were placed more on the sides than at the bottom of the nest. No particle of grass or anything else but shells composed the nest. What was strange to me was that on the island where I found it not a shell or piece of one could be seen, and these must have been brought by the bird itself from the adjacent shell islands or oyster beds. This was the only nest found on the island.

Walter J. Hoxie (1887) claims to have seen an oyster catcher remove the eggs from a nest he was watching. Both birds were standing near the nest, when “one flew off to a distance of about 100 yards.” He then observed:

After looking carefully about for a few minutes, he gave a call, and his mate rose from her nest and joined him. They seemed to be making a lot of fuss out there, kicking up the sand, squatting down, and cackling like mad. In a few minutes, though, they seemed to get over this excitement and one bird came flying back and settled on the eggs. Now she began to act strangely, wiggling round and squatting down again, and I began to think she was going to lay another egg, when off she went and joined her mate who welcomed her coming with the most extravagant cries and gestures. But she sat down quite still and demure. I was about to rise and look for my third egg when I saw her coming back. Again she went through the same operation and her second welcome was, if possible, more exuberant than the first. Then all was quiet; one bird sat on the sand and the other stood silently by her, and though I waited some time longer they showed no sign of returning again to their eggs, and I could only conclude that they had seen me watching them and would not come back until I went away. So I arose from my uncomfortable position and went to pick up the eggs, when to my surprise the little hollow in the sand was empty. While I was watching the curious antics of the female she had lifted the eggs between her legs and carried them off. So without giving time for her to repeat the offense I hurried to her new quarters and secured them successfully.

Eggs.—The oyster catcher lays two or three eggs, more often the latter I believe, and very rarely four. They are ovate to elongate ovate in shape and have only a very slight gloss. The ground color is usually “cartridge buff,” sometimes it is “pale olive buff” and rarely “deep olive buff” or dull “chamois.” They are irregularly and rather sparingly marked with spots and small blotches, occasionally a few scrawls of black, brownish black, or very dark browns, “mummy brown” or “bister,” and underlying spots in various shades of “Quaker drab” or “mouse gray.” The measurements of 56 eggs average 55.7 by 38.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 62 by 38.9, 57.2 by 42.2, 51.8 by 39.9, and 52 by 33.5 millimeters.

Young.—The period of incubation for the European species is from 21 to 24 days, and both sexes share in this duty, though it is mostly performed by the female. We have no data on this subject for the American species, but probably it is not much different. When the temperature is just right the eggs may be left exposed to the sun, but at night or when it is too hot or too cold they are covered by the incubating bird, whose judgment is reliable in such matters.

The young are able to run soon after they are hatched, and when they become strong on their legs they can run so fast that it is very difficult to catch them. At a note of warning from their watchful parents, they squat in the sand, or against some convenient object, and remain perfectly still, their protective coloring making them almost invisible. Both parents show their anxiety by flying around, usually at a safe distance, and yelling their loud notes of protest. Herbert K. Job (1905) once hunted thoroughly over a barren strip of sand, where he knew there was a young oyster catcher, without success; he was about to give it up and go away, when he saw a little wisp of driftweed at the water’s edge on a strip of bare wet sand; and beside it the young bird was lying, flat on the sand and absolutely motionless. It did not move while he was photographing it, but as soon as it was touched off it ran as fast as it could go.

Plumages.—In the downy young oyster catcher the upper parts are grizzled with pale buff and dusky; the down is dusky basally and heavily tipped with “pinkish buff”; the crown is mostly pale buff and the hind neck and throat are mostly dusky; the back appears more mottled and has two quite distinct, broad stripes of brownish black; there is sometimes a similar broad stripe on the nape; a narrow black line runs from the bill, through the eye and to the nape; a broad black band extends from behind the wing to the tail; below this and the dusky throat the under parts are white. When very young, the bill is decidedly hooked at the extreme tips of both mandibles. In a young bird, about one-quarter grown, the primaries are bursting their sheaths and the white greater coverts are growing; the juvenal plumage is appearing on the back, scapulars and lesser wing coverts; these new feathers are “sepia,” broadly tipped with “cinnamon”; the crown is “bister,” faintly tipped with “cinnamon”; the white plumage is coming in on the breast.

In full juvenal plumage, when the young bird is nearly fully grown, these colors are somewhat paler; the feathers of the back, scapulars and wing coverts are “Saccardo’s umber,” tipped with “clay color” or “cinnamon-buff”; the crown, sides of the head, and upper chest are dark “bister,” tipped with “cinnamon-buff”; the chin and throat are mottled with sepia and buffy; the upper tail coverts are white, tipped with buffy; the tail is dark “bister,” tipped with “cinnamon-buff”; and the under parts are white. By the end of July the buffy tips on the mantle have nearly disappeared by wear. Early in September the post-juvenal molt begins; this involves the body plumage, but not all the scapulars and wing coverts and not the tail.

The first winter plumage is like the adult, the head and neck being “fuscous” or “Chaetura black” and the mantle “deep mouse gray.” Young birds can be distinguished by a somewhat slenderer bill and by the retained and worn juvenal wing coverts, scapulars, and tail feathers. At the first prenuptial molt they become fully adult.

Adults have a partial prenuptial molt in late winter and early spring, involving the body plumage and most of the scapulars and wing coverts, and a complete postnuptial molt in late summer and fall.

Food.—Audubon (1840) says of the feeding habits of the oyster catcher:

I have seen it probe the sand, to the full length of its bill, knock off limpets from the rocks on the coast of Labrador, using its weapon sideways and insinuating it between the rock and the shell like a chisel, seize the bodies of gaping oysters on what are called in the Southern States and the Floridas “raccoon oyster beds,” and at other times take up a “razor handle” or solen, and lash it against the sands until the shell was broken and the contents swallowed. Now and then they seem to suck the sea urchins, driving in the mouth, and introducing their bill by the aperture, without breaking the shell; again they are seen wading up to their bodies from one place to another, seizing on shrimps and other crustacea, and even swimming for a few yards, should this be necessary to enable them to remove from one bank to another without flying. Small crabs, fiddlers, and sea worms are also caught by it, the shells of which, in a broken state, I have found in its gizzard in greater or less quantity. Frequently, while on wet sea beaches, it pats the sand to force out the insects; and in one instance I saw an individual run from the water to the dry sand with a small flounder in its bill, which it afterwards devoured.

Wilson (1832) says that they probe in the sand “with their long, wedgelike bills in search of small shellfish. This appears evident on examining the hard sands where they usually resort, which are found thickly perforated with oblong holes, 2 to 3 inches in depth.” He seemed to doubt the reports of their eating oysters, but C. J. Maynard (1896) writes:

When the outgoing tide left the tops of the oyster bars exposed, they would come flying silently in, at first singly, then in pairs, while groups of a few would follow, until, at last, they would come in flocks of a dozen or more. They would alight among the oysters and when the bivalves gaped open, as is their habit when the water first leaves them, the birds would thrust in the point of their hard, flat bills, divide the ligament with which the shells are fastened together, then, having the helpless inhabitant at their mercy, would at once devour it. They were not long in making a meal, for specimens which I shot after they had been feeding a short time were so crammed that by simply holding a bird by the legs and shaking it gently the oysters would fall from its mouth.

Behavior.—Oyster catchers are strong, swift fliers and at times are graceful and elegant in their movements. They are striking birds in flight, displaying to good advantage their conspicuous patterns of black and white and their bright red bills. Their movements on the ground are equally graceful as they walk sedately along the beach or wade out into the water until the waves lap their breasts. They can swim perfectly well and can even dive readily if necessary. Audubon (1840) describes their flight evolutions as follows:

Now wheeling with wonderful impetuosity they pass within a hundred yards of you, and suddenly checking their flight return, not low over the water as before, but high in the air. Again, they form their ranks in a broad front, and, again, as if suddenly alarmed by the report of a distant gun, they close pell-mell, and dip towards the sands or the waters. Shoot one at such a moment and you may expect to kill another; but as this is done, the wary birds, as if suddenly become aware of your intentions, form themselves into a straggling line, and before a minute has elapsed, far beyond reach, and fading on the view, are the remaining oyster catchers.

Voice.—The loud, striking notes of protest, heard as the oyster catcher flies around the intruder on its breeding grounds, are quite unlike any other bird notes; they sound like wheep, wheep, wheeop, and are both vehement and penetrating. John T. Nichols says in his notes: “The oyster catcher has a creeking note, crik, crik, crik, etc., used when the bird takes wing. A more striking cry, cle-ar, suggests the flight calls of the willet and the black-bellied plover.”

Field marks.—A large wader, with black head and dark upper parts, with a big white patch in its long, pointed, black wings and with white under parts, can be nothing but an oyster catcher. No other bird of strong, steady flight can be mistaken for it. One is seldom near enough to recognize its long, red bill.

Winter.—The oyster catcher is resident throughout most of its range, but it retires in winter from the northern portion of its breeding range. Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says:

In the winter the oyster catcher is very gregarious and it is not unusual to see flocks containing from 20 to 75 individuals. The majority of these birds are undoubtedly migrants from points to the northward of South Carolina and not the resident breeding birds, which apparently go together in pairs or small flocks of from 4 to 6 individuals.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, Central and South America. The American oyster catcher has been subdivided into several races the exact range of which it is not now possible to define. This should be borne in mind in considering the following outline, which undoubtedly includes the ranges of H. p. durnfordi, H. p. prattii, and H. p. pitanay (Murphy). Generally speaking, prattii is assumed to be confined to the Bahama Islands, durnfordi the South Atlantic coast of South America, and pitanay the Pacific coast of South America.

The species is not migratory in a strict sense, although the examples breeding at the north and south extremes of the range probably retire short distances toward the Equator when forced to do so by climatic conditions.

The range may be outlined as follows: North to Texas (Brownsville, Padre Island, Corpus Christi, and Galveston); Louisiana (Isla a Pitre); probably rarely Alabama (Petit Bois Island); and formerly southern New Jersey (Great Egg Harbor). East to formerly southern New Jersey (Great Egg Harbor, and probably Seven-mile Beach); probably rarely Maryland (Ocean City); Virginia (Hog Island, Cobb Island, and Smiths Island); North Carolina (Cape Hatteras, Ocracoke Inlet, and mouth of Cape Fear River); South Carolina (Waverly Mills, Raccoon Key, Bulls Bay, Sullivan Island, and Frogmore); Georgia (Savannah, St. Simon Island, and Cumberland); Florida (St. Johns River, Charlotte Harbor, and probably Cape Sable); the Bahama Islands (Abaco, Andros, Long, Mariguana, and Inagua Islands); probably Porto Rico (Desecheo Island); Venezuela (Aruba, Curaçao, and Cumana); Brazil (Santa Catherina, Cajetuba, Rio de Janeiro, Sapetiba Bay, and Iguape); Uruguay (La Paloma and Montevideo); and Argentina (Lavalle, Cape San Antonio, Mar Chiquita, and mouth of Chubut River). South to Argentina (mouth of Chubut River) and Chile (Ancud). West to Chile (Ancud, Algarrobo, Santiago, Chanaral, and Atacama); Peru (San Nicolas Bay, Independencia Bay, Pisco Bay, Chilca, and San Lorenzo); Ecuador (Gulf of Guayaquil and Santa Elena); Panama (Pearl Island); Yucatan (Cozumel Island and Merida); and Texas (Brownsville).

Casual records.—The American oyster-catcher has on a few occasions been directed north of its normal range. Among these occurrences are: New York, a specimen in New York Harbor, May 28, 1877, one about March 9, 1880, at Ponquogue, and one at Greenport, June 2, 1882; Massachusetts, two in August, 1899, at Chatham, one in April, 1885, at Monomoy Island, two seen September 10, 1924, at Eastham, a pair taken in 1837, at Marshfield, and one in Boston harbor, killed prior to 1814; Maine, reported by Audubon as occurring at Portland but this record is considered doubtful; New Brunswick, a specimen has been reported upon the authority of Boardman (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 1884) as taken at Grand Manan. This last is considered unsatisfactory as being indefinite, while Audubon’s statement that it bred in Labrador is probably an error.

Egg dates.—Virginia: 37 records, April 26 to July 9; 19 records, May 21 to June 19. South Carolina and Georgia: 25 records, March 27 to June 25; 13 records, May 5 to 23. Texas: 8 records, March 29 to May 5.

HAEMATOPUS PALLIATUS FRAZARI Brewster

FRAZAR OYSTER CATCHER

HABITS

It now seems to be generally recognized that this Lower California oyster catcher is a subspecies of palliatus, although William Brewster (1902) originally described it as a full species and named it in honor of the veteran collector, M. Abbott Frazar. Dr. Robert Cushman Murphy (1925) has recently reviewed this group, in which he has designated six subspecies of palliatus, inhabiting various parts of North and South America. To frazari he assigns the following limited range:

Pacific and Gulf coasts of Lower California and adjacent parts of Mexico, including the islands; formerly northward in Ventura County, Calif.; southward along the west coast of Mexico to Tepic and Jalisco, and at least occasionally to Guerrero.

Ridgway lists specimens from Sihutanejo and Acapulco, Guerrero. Contrary to former opinion, however, this race is principally confined to the zone of generally arid shores centering about the peninsula and gulf of Lower California. Its range approaches or meets that of H. p. palliatus on the more tropical coast farther south, probably at a point not far from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

He says of the characters of this race:

The subspecific characters of frazari, which include darker coloration of the brown upper parts than in palliatus, heavy mottling on the breast along the junction of white and black plumage, longer wing and tail (?), and smaller bill and feet, are given fully by Ridgway. The latter makes no mention, however, of the practical elimination of the white blotching of the primaries, a character which this oyster catcher shares with other western races. In most specimens the white spots are wholly lacking, but a few show obsolescent white or mottled markings of the conventional pattern on the eighth or ninth from the outermost quill. It is interesting to note that the mottling of the breast, which is so strongly typical of this race, appears to be carried by a genetic factor deeply rooted in the species as a whole. Scarcely any large series of H. p. palliatus, indeed, lacks one or more birds of this type. In its maximum expression, however, when the whole breast, sides, flanks, and under tail coverts are heavily blotched, the character is peculiar to frazari.

W. Leon Dawson (1923) says, in explanation of its disappearance from California:

By reason of its conspicuous coloration, as well as its excessive noisiness, the Frazar oyster catcher has suffered a fatal prominence. Its former appearances on the Channel Islands (as far north as Ventura County) were concluded by an early martyrdom, and the species is rare even in its primitive fortresses on Los Coronados Islands.

Nesting.—Being more permanently resident than even its eastern relative, the Frazar oyster catcher has no migrations, except its late summer wanderings, and remains on its breeding range throughout the year. As to the nesting habits of this bird at Scammons Lagoon, Lower California, Griffing Bancroft (1927) writes:

They climb up on the shell banks which are the back stops of the beaches and there build their nests. The shell banks are usually a yard or two above high-water mark; they are flat and quite narrow and often have fingerlike projections of 50 yards or so on the same level, running toward the east. Typically, all these higher flats are composed of nothing but shell, largely unbroken and of a size which may be judged in the accompanying illustration. Sand and small impurities have been garnered by the wind. The oyster catcher likes to build her nest where she has an unobstructed view in all directions, securing to herself the opportunity of slipping off unobtrusively at the approach of an enemy. But she is a stupid bird and is easily satisfied with a makeshift which seems to her to accomplish her purpose but in reality does not do so at all. So on some of the earthen islands we find her nesting on little mounds, from which, it is true, she can see, but to only a matter of a few feet.

In the Gulf of California the favorite site for an oyster catcher is the end of the rather long spits of cobblestones. These are so nearly level that a sitting bird has an unobstructed view for a hundred yards. There she builds a nest of fine hard material—small pebbles and bits of shell. And as she can not have broken the larger stones that were originally on the site she must have removed them. I use the analogy for Scammons. Instead of breaking the shells with her powerful bill she probably pulls them out of the way until she has a flat circle about 10 inches across. This clearing she lines as neatly as tile work, and on them deposits her eggs, one, two, or three. The breeding season seems quite long, as we found both well-developed young and fresh eggs. I have observed parents with their young long after the latter had taken wing, and so feel sure that the oyster catchers raise but one brood a year.

I have a set of two eggs in my collection, taken by W. W. Brown, jr., May 2, 1912, on San Jose Island; the nest is described as a depression, lined with pebbles, in a crevice on top of a jagged, weatherworn ledge, 40 feet above the surf. There are two sets in the Thayer collection, taken by Mr. Brown near La Paz on March 24 and 26, 1909; one nest was similarly located to mine; “it was out of reach of the surf, but the spray, no doubt, dampened it in rough weather”; the nest from which the other set was taken is described as “a depression in the sand.” The eggs were laid on the bare ground, there being no lining to the nest whatever. It was 80 feet from the surf.

Eggs.—The Frazar oyster catcher lays two or three eggs, sometimes only one. These are practically indistinguishable from those of the American oyster catcher. The measurements of 27 eggs average 57.1 by 38.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 60.9 by 37.8, 59.8 by 41.5, 50.7 by 40.8, and 60.7 by 36 millimeters.

Plumages.—The plumages and molts from the downy stage to maturity are apparently the same as in the American oyster catcher. Mr. Bancroft (1927) has published some interesting notes on his observations, which suggest that either there are two color phases in these birds or that they interbreed with black oyster catchers (bachmani) and produce hybrids; I am inclined to accept the latter theory, but quote from Mr. Bancroft’s (1927) paper, as follows:

Ninety per cent of the oyster catchers had white bellies, the rest had all their underparts black, with the exception of one, whose belly was streaked black and white. Mr. Chester Lamb wrote me that on Natividad Island there was a much larger percentage of mixed underparts than we found. That there were two phases of one bird instead of two distinct species in the lagoon was apparent to anyone watching them. There was only one case I observed of a black bird paired with another black; all the other blacks had white-bellied mates. The difference between the birds was limited to the abdomens; place a mixed series in a row with the backs up and one could not tell one bird from another. In their conduct, especially when their nests were threatened, there were no differences at all. I feel perfectly safe in saying there were no black oyster catchers (Haematopus bachmani) present. I have seen too many of them, from Monterey to Sitka, not to know by heart every movement they will make and every note they will utter when one trespasses on their home sites. The actions and the cries, and especially the noise, are more unusual and more uniform than those of any bird with which I am acquainted. They fly customarily in a complete half circle from the rocks on one side to those on the other, the birds keeping near each other and almost always close to the water. The noise is incessant, shrill, continuous, and loud beyond belief. The contrast with the birds in Scammons is striking. There, both the white and the black bellied are almost as silent as plover and try to win safety by a prodigious show of indifference. There is little or no excitement while we tramp around the nesting sites. When the parents find we can not be persuaded to follow them away they take up positions 50 to 100 feet from us and there remain motionless, usually as long as we are in the neighborhood. There is another great difference between H. bachmani and the black phase in the south. The former is decidedly darker than the latter, especially on the back, whereas true Haematopus frazari from both ends of the Gulf appear to be the same as those in Scammons.

We found and photographed a pair of downy young not over a few days old. These youngsters are obviously of the white and black types, respectively; we have the skins to show that there is no photographic illusion here. So we have very strong evidence that the black and the white phases do mate and do produce fertile offspring and that the young have partaken of the coloring, one of one parent and one of the other. These little birds are not mongrels, though we know from some adults that occasionally there are chicks which do inherit from both parents. Comparison shows that the white-breasted downy does not differ at all, at a cursory glance, from a baby taken on Coronado Island in the Gulf.

Behavior.—The same observer writes:

Scammons Lagoon is a haven for oyster catchers, or appears so to such of us as are accustomed to but an occasional pair scattered along the various islands and rocky projections in the more northerly Pacific Ocean. There are at least two or three hundred oyster catchers fairly evenly distributed over the islands we visited, with an occasional pair or so on favorable mainland strands. When the tides are going down vast stretches of hard flats are exposed and become feeding grounds. The birds pursue the receding water even to the point of wading, and there they hunt the small marine life on which they live. When the tide turns they use the black levels as a lounging place until driven ashore by the sea. They are markedly indolent and slow in movement and, when undisturbed, never appear the least bit busy.

Walter E. Bryant (1890) says:

I found this oyster catcher tolerably common at Magdalena Bay and northward, and on Santa Margarita Island. They were mated in January. They were rather shy, running rapidly on the beach, and if approached, taking wing with loud, clear, whistling notes, and after flying some distance, alighting again at the water’s edge. Their food was chiefly small bivalves found in the gravelly beach.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Pacific coast of Mexico and southern California. The Frazar oyster catcher is confined chiefly to Lower California (San Quintin Bay, Cedros Island, Natividad Island, San Roque, Ascuncion Island, Los Coronados Islands, Carmen Island, San Jose Island, La Paz, and Todos Santos); and the mainland coast of Mexico; Sonora (Quotla); Sinaloa (Altata); Nayarit (Maria Madre Island, Maria Cleofas Island, Tres Marias, Isabela Island, and San Blas); and Guerrero (Sihutanejo, and Acapulco). The species is of casual occurrence (formerly more common) on the coast and islands of southern California (San Diego, Santa Barbara Island, San Clemente Island, and Ventura County). Breeding records for California are not satisfactory.

Egg dates.—Lower California: 39 records, March 24 to June 24; 20 records, April 22 to May 13.

HAEMATOPUS BACHMANI Audubon

BLACK OYSTER CATCHER

HABITS

At the northern end of their range, in the Aleutian Islands, I first became acquainted with these big black waders. Here we frequently saw them at various points, as we entered or left the rock-bound harbors, sitting in little groups or in pairs on the rocks or outlying ledges. They were surprisingly inconspicuous on the wet and dark colored rocks, which were often half hidden in the prevailing fogs. They seemed to fit very well into their dark and gloomy surroundings. They were not particularly shy, as they stood on the slippery rocks and nodded to us with grotesque dignity, or as they flew out around us uttering their loud and penetrating cries.

Courtship.—W. Leon Dawson (1909) writes:

Left to themselves, the birds are no Quakers, and the antics of courtship are both noisy and amusing. A certain duet, especially, consists of a series of awkward bowings and bendings in which the neck is stretched to the utmost and arched over stiffly into a pose as grotesque as one of Cruikshank’s drawings, the whole to an accompaniment of amorous clucks and wails.

Nesting.—We did not succeed in finding any nests of the black oyster catcher in the Aleutian Islands, though they undoubtedly breed there. Dr. W. H. Dall (1873) found two nests in the Shumagins on June 23, 1872; there were two eggs “in one nest and one in another, if nest it could be called, being simply a depression in the gravel of the beach without even a straw to soften its asperities.” Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood (1901) found a nest in the Queen Charlotte Islands, which “was merely a hollow about 2 inches deep and almost perfectly round, scooped out of a weedy turf a few feet above highwater mark. The bottom of the hollow was covered with bits of broken stone, evidently placed there by the old bird.”

Referring to the rocky islands off the coast of Washington, Mr. Dawson (1909) says:

The eggs of the black oyster catcher, normally three in number, are oftenest placed in the hollow of a bare rock, lined with a pint or so of rock flakes, laboriously gathered. Occasionally bits of shell, especially the calcareous plates of the goose barnacle, are added by way of adornment. Now and then the wader emulates the gull and prepares a careful lining of grasses. One such nest with three eggs I passed repeatedly, on Carroll, languidly supposing it to be a gull’s until Professor Jones exclaimed over it.

For a nesting site the upper reaches of barren reefs or shoulders are chosen, but on the smaller rocks, where the waders have exclusive rights, the eggs may be lodged on the very crest of the islet. Again, upon Destruction Island, we found eggs on a coarse beach gravel, where to the protection of color, stone-gray with black spots and blotches, was added the almost perfect assimilation of form to that of the rounded pebbles.

Eggs.—The black oyster catcher lays two or three eggs, occasionally only one and more rarely four. They are very much like the eggs of the American oyster catcher, but perhaps they will average a little more buffy. They are ovate in shape and have a very slight gloss. The ground colors vary from “cream buff” to “olive buff.” They are usually quite evenly covered with small spots and scrawls of black or very dark browns, “bister” or “Dresden brown,” and various shades of “Quaker drab.” The measurements of 44 eggs average 56.2 by 39.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 62 by 39.5, 58.1 by 42, 51 by 39.5 and 54.2 by 37.5 millimeters.

Young.—Nothing seems to be known about the period of incubation or whether both sexes share in it; both parents are interested in the care of the young and are very solicitous for their welfare. Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1910) writes:

Dixon observed two half-grown young running about on the beach; but as soon as the old birds, which were always watching, saw anyone approaching a warning note was uttered, at which the young ones promptly squatted among the rocks wherever they happened to be, even if in the edge of the water. They remained perfectly quiet and blended so nicely with their surroundings that it was difficult to locate them even when they had been previously seen from a distance. The old birds attacked and put to rout any gulls or ravens that approached the vicinity.

Prof. Harold Heath (1915) says:

The precocial fledglings very early accompanied their parents on short journeys about the cliffs, and within a week after hatching were observed pecking at limpets, although it is highly probable that for several days thereafter they depended on the old birds for the greater part of their food supply. During this time the young resemble diminutive ostriches, with thick-set legs, big feet, and fluffy plumage, which, it may be added, harmonizes to a high degree with the surroundings. Furthermore, they have the same habit of hiding the head when it is not possible to conceal the entire body beneath a stone.

Plumages.—The downy young black oyster catcher is a swarthy little fellow, clothed in short, thick, dark, grizzly down, a color pattern well suited for concealment among the dark rocks where it lives. The down of the upper parts is basally sooty black and very dark gray, but the pale buffy tips give the bird its grizzly appearance. There is an indistinct loral and postocular stripe and two broad, more distinct, parallel stripes down the back of brownish black and two blackish areas on the thighs; between the back stripes and on the rump the buff tips produce a transverse barred effect. The underparts are dull grays, darkest on the throat and breast and lightest on the belly; the sides are faintly mottled or barred.

In juvenal plumage the young bird is much like the adult, but the feathers of the wing coverts, scapulars, tertials, and back are tipped with narrow terminal bars of “cinnamon buff” and subterminal blackish bars; those of the flanks, thighs, and under tail coverts are tipped with the same color; most of these buffy tips soon wear away, and before the postjuvenal molt there are only a few spots left on the wing coverts, scapulars, and tertials, some of which are carried through the winter as evidences of immaturity. I have not seen enough material collected at the proper seasons to trace the molts of adults.

Food.—Mr. Dawson (1909) writes:

Even when visiting the mainland shore, which is not often, the bird confines its attention to the barnacle-covered rocks and high-lying mussel beds. Its food consists of marine worms and crustaceans of various sorts, barnacles, limpets, and especially mussels. Its stout, chisel-shaped beak enables it to force an entrance into the most refractory mussel shell and to sever as by a knife the strong adductor muscles, which hold the valves together. Its feet also are large and strong, and the toes are provided with an elaborate set of pectinations which enable the bird to maintain a footing upon the most slippery rocks. If the foothold on a sloping rock is anywise precarious, the bird retreats backward and uphill by means of these convenient calks.

A. B. Howell (1917) says:

Certain rocky points are selected by the birds, and to these are often brought the barnacles which they pry off the rocks. These are worked over at leisure, and at one such depot on the Coronados, which I examined there was fully a bushel of shells.

Behavior.—The flight of the black oyster catcher is strong and direct, but it seemed to me to be rather slow and heavy. Lucien M. Turner (1886) says:

The flight consists of a few rapid strokes of the wing, followed by a sail for a few yards. It is sluggish when on the wing, and flies with difficulty, and rarely long continued. When alarmed it flies over the water within a few yards of the shore, and in going from one point of rocks to another it either makes the trip in easy stages from one large rock to another, or else follows the indentations of the shore line. The bird is always on the alert, and not at all shy. It generally sees the hunter long before he suspects the presence of the bird. The bird either squats in a depression of the rocks, or stealthily creeps to the top of some huge bowlder, where it utters a piercing, whistling chatter like that of a policeman’s rattle. It causes the intruder long search to discover the presence of the bird, for its color is so near that of the rocks it frequents that it is not easily detected. The note is then answered by another bird, so that in a few minutes a dozen may be chattering hideously, making the hunter wonder where all the birds came from so suddenly, as all the birds within hearing assemble on the first note of alarm.

Carl Lien says in his notes:

If occasion requires these birds are good swimmers and, if pursued when crippled, will dive deep and long. A very alert bird and always first to give alarm.

Voice.—My notes refer to the cries of this bird as loud, penetrating screams, sounding like whee-up, or whee-ep.

Doctor Dall (1873) says:

They utter, when disturbed, a peculiar, low whistle; which once heard, is likely to be remembered; and they have a habit of standing on the beach or rocks a little way apart, and whistling to one another; one calling and the other answering; and keeping it up for half an hour at a time. It is one of the most peculiar birds of the region, in its motions, having a grave, solemn and stilted gait, and bobbing its head up and down with every step.

Winter.—As the black oyster catcher is practically resident all the year round throughout most, if not all, of its range, there is not much to be said about its migrations, though there is probably some shifting of individuals. Doctor Dall (1873) refers to it as a summer visitor in the Aleutian Islands, but Mr. Turner (1886) records it as a permanent resident there.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Pacific coast of North America and Lower California.

Breeding range.—The breeding range of the black oyster catcher extends north to Alaska (Atka Island, Range Island, St. Paul Harbor, Montague Island, Hinchinbrook Island, Sitka, St. Lazaria Island, probably Kuiu Island, Coronation Island, Prince of Wales Island, Forrester Island, and Duke Island); south along the coast of British Columbia (Porcher Island, Skidegate, Vancouver Island, and New Westminster); Washington (Bellingham Bay, Waldron Island, Flattery Rocks, Quillayute Needles, Destruction Island, and Copalis Rock); Oregon (Three Arch Rock, Newport, and Bandon); California (probably Prince Island, Eureka, probably the Farallon Islands, Point Pinos, San Miguel Island, Santa Cruz Island, Anacapa Island, San Clemente Island, and San Diego); and Lower California (Todos Santos, San Benito Island, Cedros Island, Natividad Island, Abreojos Point, and Los Coronados Islands).

Winter range.—In winter, the black oyster catcher is found throughout its breeding range except (normally) in Alaska and (probably) northern British Columbia. It has, however, been recorded on one occasion at this season, in Alaska, St. George Island, January 12, 1917 (Hanna).

Migration.—An early date of arrival in Alaska is Unalaska Island, April 29, while a late date of departure is St. Lazaria Island, September 30.

Egg dates.—Alaska: 14 records, June 5 to 26; 7 records, June 13 to 23. British Columbia: 13 records, May 27 to June 20; 7 records, June 6 to 12. California: 7 records, May 25 to June 10.